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A Sketch 



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North Carolina 



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INTRODUCTION. 



THE Sketch Book of North Carolina has been of necessity somewhat 
hastily prepared, and its publication delayed. 

It is intended primarily to accompany the handsome exhibit the 
State, through the Department of Agricultures, is making at the Charleston 
Exposition, and to give information to those persons who may be attracted 
by the State's exhibit, or may seek to learn more of its resources. 

It is expected also to distribute from the Department in Raleigh, copies 
of the Sketch Book to many enquirers from without the State, who aredaily 
asking information of the opportunities offered in North Carolina for the 
industrious settler, the investment of capital and the seeker after health. 

In 1893 the Department of Agriculture issued a Handbook, many copies 
of which were distributed from the Chicago Exposition. A few years 
later "North Carolina and Its Resources" was published. Both these pub- 
lications are practically exhausted. That they have aided in the develop- 
ment of the State and in making North Carolina known more favorably and 
more justly to the country at large, there can be no reasonable doubt. 

The present unpretentious little volume is what its name indicates, a 
Sketch Book. Many times as many pages would be required to write up 
fully the subjects treated of and others of interest and value relating to 
the State. 

The Sketch Book is intended to fill only an immediate want in marking 
the rapid strides the State is making. 

To the generous aid of President Geo. T. Winston and Professor W. F. 
Massey. and especially of Professor D. H. Hill, all of the A. & M. College; 
of Dr. Joseph Hyde Pratt and of Dr. E. W. Myers, of the State Geological 
Survey; of Professor C. F. Von Herrmann, of the United States Weather 
Bureau, and of the officials of the Department of Agriculture is due the 
credit of the work in the limited time allowed for its publication. 



P, 



Vresses The Lticas-1(tchardsor. Co., 

Charlesfon, S. C. '^ 



HISTORICAL. 



THE first settlement made in the New World was made in North 
Carolina. This attempt at colonization was made by the illus- 
trious Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1584, Raleigh sent out two boats, 
commanded by Philip Armadas and Arthur Barlowe, to explore as 
much as possible of the newly discovered continent. After a long voy- 
age, these tiny vessels, on the 4th of July 1584, sighted the coast of 
North Carolina somewhere near Cape Fear. After beating about the 
coast until the 13th, these adventurous commanders anchored in the 
roads of Ocracock Inlet, near a beautiful island called by the Indians 
Wokokon. At midday on the 13th, after a prayer of thanks that the 
flag of England was about to float over broader realms. Captain Amadas 
took possession of the land in these words: 

"We take possession of this land in the right of the Queene's most 
excellent majestic, as rightfull Queene and princess of the same, to be 
delivered over to the use of Sir Walter Raleigh, according to her Majes- 
tie's grant and letters patent, under her highnesse's great scale." 

The Indians under the leadership of Manteo and Ganganames, wel- 
comed the whites and tried to make their stay comfortable. After 
acquiring as much information as possible, the expedition returned 
to England, taking along as curiosities of the new land two Indians, 
potatoes, and smoking tobacco. Queen Elizabeth was greatly pleased 
with the report of Raleigh's captains, and named the land Virginia in 
honor of herself , the "Virgin Queen." 

Raleigh, the next year, sent out a colony of men under Ralph 
Lane as governor to make a permanent settlement. This colony con- 
sisted of 108 men and crossed the Atlantic in seven little boats com- 
manded by Raleigh's kinsman, Sir Richard Grenville. These colo- 
nists landed upon Roanoke Island on the 26th of July, 1585. There they 
built a few cabins, fortified them, and called their new home the "City 
of Raleigh." Owing to wild quests after gold and jewels, and to hos- 
tilities with the Indians, the settlers became reduced in number and 
disheartened in spirit. Hence when Sir Francis Drake, in one of his 
exploring expeditions, visited them with a large fleet, the entire 
colony determined to return to England. Thus, in 1586, the first 
English settlement in the new world was abandoned, and the City of 
Raleigh left tenantless. 

Only a few days after the Lane colonists sailed away with Drake, 
a ship sent out by Raleigh arrived at Roanoke. This ship was loaded 
with abundant supplies, and had it arrived a few days earlier the colony 
would possibly have been perpetuated. 

Not discouraged by failure, Raleigh sent out another fleet contain- 
ing one hundred and fifty men, women and children. These colonists 
brought with them farm tools and came determined to make themselves 
a home in the new country. John White, the governor of this colony, 
disobeyed Raleigh's orders, and landed at Roanoke on the 22d of July. 



4 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Manteo welcomed this new body of Europeans. This great Indian 
was by order of Sir Walter Raleigh, admitted into the church and 
baptized as " Lord of Roanoke. " 

Among these colonists was Eleanor Dare, daughter of Gov. White. 
On the 18th of July, Mistress Dare gave birth to a daughter, the first 
English-speaking child born in America. In honor of the colony, this 
child was named Virginia Dare. After a stay on the island, Gov. 
White felt impelled to return to England to get supplies for the colo- 
nists, and to try to enlarge their numbers. Upon representations of 
White, unwearied Raleigh again loaded two ships to take aid to the 
Roanoke colonists. But for one reason or another, White was long 
delayed. When at last he reached Roanoke, not a sign of the colonists 
that he had left there could be seen. Three years had passed between 
his going and his coming, and on his return he found the City of Ral- 
eigh as overgrown and desolate as it had been at his first visit. Upon 
a tree the single word "Croatan" had been rudely carved. Before 
White's sailing for England, he had directed the settlers to carve upon 
a tree the name of any place that they might find it necessary to move 
to. No trace of the lost colonists was ever found, and White returned 
to England. It is said that Raleigh sent out at least five separate ex- 
peditions to search for the lost colony. With their disappearance, 
attempts at colonization of that part of the coast ceased. The attempts 
of Sir Walter Raleigh having signally failed, no further attempts at 
colonization were made for three-quarters of a century. In 1629, a 
charter was granted by Charles I of England to Sir Robert Heath of 
the Southern part of Virginia, latitudes 31 degrees to 36 degrees, 
under the name, in honor of that king, of Carolina. As Heath did 
nothing under it, a renewal was granted in 1663 to eight Lords Pro- 
prietors, and an enlargement to 36 degrees 30 seconds and 29 degrees, 
two years afterwards. The first permanent settlement in the limits of 
North Carolina was called the County of Albemarle. The Lords Pro- 
prietors appointed Governors of Albemarle, and then Governors, or 
Deputy Governors, of North Carolina until 1728. Seven of them then 
sold their interests to the Crown, Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl 
Granville, yielding the right of government, but retaining his one- 
eighth interest in the land of all Carolina. In 1744 he obtained a 
grant in severalty of about one-half of North Carolina, next to the Vir- 
ginia line. The colony was therefore under the Crown from 1728 to the 
Revolution. 

THE REVOLUTION. 

North Carolina was most forward in resisting the arbitrary aggres- 
sions of the British Government. The first pitched battle against 
governmental tyranny was at Alamance, May 12, 1771. The first legis- 
lative body in defiance of the Royal Governor was at Newbern, August 
25, 1774. The General Assembly had placed on its seal May 20, 1775, as 
the date of the first declaration of independence. 

The skirmish at Lexington on April 19, 1775, although insignificant 
in itself, fired the American heart; the news of the encounter reached 
Charlotte, in Mecklenburg County, on the 19th of May following, and on 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 5 

the next day, May 20, the patriots of Mecklenburg met in convention and 
declared the independence of the colonies. The cause of Massachusetts 
and of New England was theirs also, and a blow struck there in fur- 
therance of British aggression must ultimately be repeated in North 
Carolina; hence this bold and patriotic action. 

In the winter of 1775-76, North Carolina troops under Howe helped 
drive Lord Dunmore from Virginia. In February, 1776, the Tory High- 
landers were crushed at Moore's Creek bridge. On April 25, 1776, 
North Carolina, first of all the colonies, empowered her delegates to 
the Continental Congress to vote for independence. In the next month 
her troops assisted to repel the British fleet at Charleston. In the 
same summer her militia under Rutherford, marching over trackless 
mountains, effectively humbled the hostile Cherokees. Her troops 
fought gallantly under Washington at Brandywine, Germantown and 
Monmouth and were among the picked men to storm Stony Point 
under Wayne. By their stubborn endurance and pluck her people 
thwarted Cornwallis' attempt to subjugate the Carolinas and Virginia. 
They furnished troops and leaders for capturing Ferguson at King's 
Mountain. They aided Green in crippling Cornwallis at Guilford 
Court House, and the virtual victory of Eutaw. After the Revolution, 
the State steadily increased in wealth and power. As the citizens of 
the State, however, did not engage to any appreciable extent in manu- 
facturing, no large cities were built, and as they were selling raw 
instead of manufactured products, wealth did not keep pace with the 
growth in population. 

The growth in population from the Revolution to the Civil War is 
shown by the following table: 

Year. Population. 

1790 393,751 

1800 478,103 

1810 555,500 

1820 638,829 

1830 737,987 

1840 753,419 

1850 869,038 

1860 992,622 

THE CIVIL WAR. 

North Carolina was not forward in adopting an ordinance of 
secession. The people by a small majority, in Feb. 1861, voted down 
a proposal to call a convention to consider Federal relations. But 
when coercion by the United States Government was resolved upon, 
a convention was called, and, on May 20th, 1861, an ordinance of 
secession was passed by unanimous vote, and the vote was at once sus- 
tained by volunteers from all over the State. The records of the War 
Department in Washington show with what devotion the State clung to 
the cause that it was so slow in joining. The Government tables of 
dead and wounded show that on the Confederate side, North Carolina 
lost more soldiers killed than any other Southern State, to wit: 14,522, 



6 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

that the State also headed the list in numbers that died of wounds and 
that 20,602 of her soldiers died of disease. Her military population in 
1861 was 115,369, yet she furnished 125,000 soldiers to the Confederate 
army. Since the close of the Confederate war, the State has made 
rapid strides in growth, in manufacturing, in wealth acquisition. 
The present population is 1,893,810. 

This population is of a singularly homogeneous character. The 
immigrants in early days, Virginians mainly English, Pennsylvanians 
mainly Scotch-Irish and German, Scotch-Irish, Scotch Highlanders and 
Lowlanders, Swiss, French, Huguenots, Germans from the Rhine and 
elsewhere, have fused by inter-marriages or business or social commu- 
nication into a homogeneous people of steady, orderly and friendly 
habits. The relations between masters and slaves were singularly free 
from cruelty on the one side and insolent spirit of rebellion on the 
other, And after emancipation there was little friction in the adjust- 
ment of the new relation of employer and employee. 



GENERAL SKETCH. 



THE State of North Carolina is bounded on the north by Virginia, 
east by the Atlantic Ocean, south by South Carolina and Georgia 
and west by Tennessee. It is included nearly between the paral- 
lels 34 degrees and 36)4 degrees north latitude, and between the meridi- 
ans 75)4 degrees and 84)4 degrees west longitude. 

The extreme length of the State from east to west is 503^ miles; 
its average breadth is 100 miles; its extreme breadth is 187 >^ miles. 
Its area embraces 52,286 square miles, of which 48,666 is land, and 3,620 
is water. 

Its topography may be best conceived by picturing to the mind's 
eye the surface of the State as a vast declivity, sloping down from the 
summits of the Smoky Mountains an altitude of nearly 7,000 feet, to the 
level of the Atlantic Ocean. The Smoky Mountains constitute a part of 
the great Appalachian chain which here attains its greatest height; the 
greatest indeed, in the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains. 
This slope is made up of three wide extended terraces — if that term 
may be allowed; the first a high mountain plateau — distinguished as 
the Western or Mountain Section; the second, a submontane plateau, 
distinguished as the Middle section or the Piedmont Plateau region; 
the third, the Atlantic plain, distinguished as the Low Country or 
the Coastal Plain region, and that part from the head of the tides 
downward as the Tidewater section. From the first to the second seC' 
tion there is a sharp descent through a few miles only of not less than 
1, 500 feet ; from the middle to the low country a descent of about 200 feet ; 
through the two latter, however, there is a constant downward grade. 

THE MOUNTAIN REGION. 

Broadly considered, the mountain section may be treated as a high 
plateau bounded on the east by the irregular chain known as the Blue 




FALLS ON riCTURESQUE TROUT STREAMS — MOUNTAIN REGION. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Ridge, extending across the State in a general direction from northeast 
to southwest, until, reaching the southeastern border of Henderson 
County, it turns to the west and forms for a long distance part of the 
southern boundary of the State, passing at length by a southwest pro- 
jection into the State of Georgia, and again reuniting with the chain 
of the Smoky Mountains, to which it had made near approach on its 
entry into North Carolina in the counties of Ashe and Watauga. 

The average elevation of the Blue Ridge is nearly 4,000 feet, though 
on the southern and northern extremities it drops to 3,000 feet; its lower 
gaps being a little above 2,000 feet over the main level of the Pied- 
mont country. 

The western boundary of this division is that long chain known un- 
der the various names of the Iron, the Smoky, and the Unaka Moun- 
tains, and forming the dividing line between North Carolina and Ten- 
nessee and enclosing with marked definiteness the plateau of Western 
North Carolina. The area of this division approximates 6,000 square 
miles. The plateau is the culminating region of the Appalachian 
system, and contains not only its largest masses, but also its highest 
summits. The elevation of some of the peaks is as follows: 

Mitchell's Peak 6,711; Clingman's Dome, 6,660; Mount Buckley 
6,599; Mount Love, 6,443. 

• In all there are forty- three peaks of 6,000 feet and upwards. There 
are eighty-two mountains which in height exceed 5,000 feet, and an in- 
numerable number exceeds 4, 000 feet. The general contour of all these 
mountains is gentle, the summits generally presenting smooth, rounded 
outlines. » The mountains are covered with deep rich soil, and clothed 
with massive forests to their tops. ■ There is little hazard in saying 
that there is nowhere in any of the other States an equal area of land 
covered with timber trees of such various kinds, and of such value. 
The walnut, tulip trees, (poplars) and oaks attain a size that would 
hardly be credited by one who had not seen them. The preservation 
of this magnificent forest is due to the fact that it has hitherto been in- 
accessible to transportation. Within the past few years much of it has 
been brought into connection with the markets of the world. One 
railroad line passes entirely through this section and another branching 
off at Asheville, and leading to the exteme southwest of the State, is now 
completed. Into the northwestern part of the State also a railroad has 
been completed and others projected. 

The cultivated productions of this section are the same as those 
of the Piedmont Plateau region, cotton and rice excepted. Its garden 
vegetables are the same, but the cabbage and the Irish potato grow 
here to a degree of perfection that cannot be excelled anywhere. 
Among the fruits, its apples are noted for size and flavor. Peaches 
and grapes grow well generally; but for their highest perfection, 
nature has made provisions by a suspension to some extent of her 
ordinary laws. Throughout the mountains in certain localities and at 
certain elevations, there are horizontal belts where frost is seldom 
known. Such localities are found not only in this section, but in the 
South mountains and in the Brushy range. 

The climate of this section is delightful. Its summers are cool. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



bracing and rich in ozone and the drinking water is delicious. The 
soils of the basins of the great rivers of this section and its mountain 
valleys are noted for their fertility. The capacity for the produc- 
tion of cereals and hay grasses is equal to that of any lands. As 
might be inferred from the heavy forest growth with which the entire 
surface is covered, the mountain sides are susceptible of profitable 
cultivation up to their summits. 

The entire transmontane country is well adapted to stock raising. 
The cultivated grasses flourish everywhere with even ordinary care. 
But it is in the northwestern counties — particularly in the counties of 
Ashe, Alleghany, Watauga, Mitchell, Yancey — that all the conditions 
are found necessary for its perfect success. The soil throughout these 
counties is a deep rich loam, up to the summits of the mountains. 
The whole country is covered with a dense vegetation, amongst which 
will be found some of the largest timber in the United States, and as 
yet the forests are comparatively unbroken, because they have been 
inaccessible to market. The clearing of the timber is a work of 
some difficulty, but when that is done the labor of the farmer is 
rewarded with the richest crops. After two or three crops are taken 
off, the land, if suffered to lie at rest, springs up spontaneously in 
timothy, herds grass, and other rich pasture grasses; and once estab- 
lished, the grass perpetuates itself upon the land. Nor is an entire 
clearing necessary to establish the land in grass. If the undergrowth 
is removed, the trees thinned out, and the surface stirred and sown in 
orchard grass (Cocks foot), it flourishes luxuriantly even while the 
forest trees are left standing. Its capacity as a grazing country has 
long been known. But formerly the cattle were left to the resources 
of nature, which indeed, in such a country were abundant and rich. 
"Horses and horned cattle," says General Clingman, in one of his pub- 
lications, "are usually driven out into the mountains about the first of 
April and brought back in No- ^mber. Within six weeks after they 
have thus been put into the range, they become fat and sleek. There 
are, however, on the top and along the sides of the higher mountains 
ever-green and winter grasses on which horses and horned cattle live 
well through the entire winter. Such animals are often foaled and 
reared there until fit for market, without ever seeing a cultivated 
plantation. ' ' Of late, attention has been turned to the breeding of 
fine stock, and some herds of cattle and flocks of sheep are found 
there which will compare not unfavorably with those of any country. 
This country is already penetrated by one railroad, and others are in 
course of construction. When fairly laid open to railroad communi- 
cation it will offer — besides its rich mining interests and timbers — 
one of the finest fields for cattle and sheep breeding and for dairy 
products that the Union presents. 

The mountains are rich in various sorts of ores. Corundum 
abounds in Macon, Clay and several other counties; mica is abundant 
in Haywood, Yancey and Mitchell; iron of an unusual tenacity is found 
in the region around Canberry; copper is found in several coun- 
ties. 






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VIE\V> AKOINLI HOT SPRINGS — SOXrXHEKX KAII.WAV. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 9 

PIEDMONT PLATEAU REGION. 

The Piedmont Plateau region is intermediate between the Moun- 
tain region, already spoken of, and the Coastal Plain region, which 
extends to the ocean. It comprises nearly one-half the territory of the 
State. The hand of improvement is more visible in this than in any 
section in this State. Almost the entire region is now dotted over with 
thriving villages and towns. The homes everywhere indicate a high 
degree of thrift and comfort. An unusual proportion are built in modern 
style, and tastefully painted. Nestled amidst yards and gardens, enclosed 
with neat painted palings, flanked with orchards of fruit trees, in 
which a space is generally allotted to choice grape vines, they give 
abundant proof of ease, plenty, and, in many instances of no small 
degree of luxury. 

It is in this section that the great water power of the State — esti- 
mated by the late State Geologist, Prof. W. C. Kerr, at three million 
horsepower — finds its greatest development and employment. It is 
through this section that flow the upper waters of the Dan, the Roa- 
noke, the Tar, the Neuse, the Cape Fear, the Yadkin, and the Catawba, 
and their numerous affluents. All of those have been partially utilized 
by the erection of corn, flouring and saw mills in every neighborhood, 
and cotton and woolen mills on almost all of the rivers and their tribu- 
taries. Within the last few years the number of cotton mills has 
largely increased. Those erected lately are spacious buildings, and 
equipped with the best machinery. Within the same period all or 
nearly all of the older ones have been enlarged and new machinery 
put in. The fact begins to be more and more recognized that within the 
Cotton States there are advantages for the manufacture of that staple 
that cannot be found elsewhere. Here the cotton is at the door of the 
manufacurer, and the prime cost of the material is therefore less. 
Wages are less here than in the northern States, and a lower rate of wages 
here affords a more comfortable living than a higher rate there for the 
necessaries of life are cheaper, and less of food, clothing and fuel are 
required. Less fuel, too, is required for heating the mill in winter. 
The laborer can make substantial additions to his means of subsistence 
from his garden, which is always allotted here to the head of the family. 
Here there is no obstruction to machinery from ice in winter, and 
no greater suspension of work from drought in summer, for our rivers 
are as long as those of New England and have as many tributaries. 
The original cost of the site and of the building here is very much 
less than the same cost there. The force of these reasons cannot be 
long resisted, and, indeed, the phenomenal growth of cotton milling 
now observed in the State fully asserts the truth of the claims set 
forth. 

The soil of this Piedmont section is very much diversified. This, 
added to favorable climatic conditions, offers great agricultural possi- 
bilities, and this section has an exceedingly wide range of productions. 

It is here that we find the largest area devoted to the cultivation 
of the most profitable varieties of tobacco, and it is here that the cul- 
ture of cotton is largely extended and profitably pursued; and it is 
here also that all the cereals and all the grasses are cultivated in their 



10 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

highest perfection, enlisting the leading agricultural interest of the 
population. Here also the fruits of the temperate zone find congenial 
home — apples, peaches, pears, cherries, the small fruits and grapes 
being unexcelled in excellence, variety and abundance. In this section 
are also widely distributed the richest veins and deposits of the val- 
uable ores and metals, including the precious metals, gold and silver, 
iron, copper and lead, and the only two coal formations found in North 
Carolina. These ores, and the mining operations connected with them 
will be treated of in a chapter in this work. This region also abounds 
in varied and extensive forest wealth, which will be referred to in its 
proper place. 

COASTAL PLAIN REGION. 

The whole eastern portion of the State consists of a vast plain, 
stretching from the sea coast into the interior of the country, a 
distance of from one hundred to a hundred and fifty miles. Tra- 
versing this section from north to south are tracts of country which 
vary little from a perfect level. The Carolina Central Railroad has a 
stretch of one hundred miles where there is neither curve, excavation 
nor embankment. From east to west the surface rises by easy grada- 
tions at the rate of a little more than a foot to the mile. The rise, 
however, is not perceptible to the traveler. But though level in parts, 
it is in general relieved by slight undulations. Along its western 
border, as in the County of Moore, it attains an elevation of about five 
hundred feet. 

This section is made up of beds of clay and sand, with vast quan- 
tities of shells imbedded in them. The soil varies in character to the 
extent that the one or the other predominates; and to the extent that 
the shells, when intermixed with it, have undergone decomposition. 
The upland soil is for the most part a sandy loam, easily accessible to 
the sun's rays, easily worked and very productive in the crops there 
cultivated. There are, however, extensive areas of country where sand 
predominates to such a degree that the surface to a considerable depth 
is a bed of white sand. Yet this kind of land is the favorite habitat 
of the long leaf pine. When cleared, it yields good crops of corn and 
cotton for a few years without manure, and always with slight help 
from proper commercial fertilizers, and considerable areas, as in 
Moore County, have been found to be valuable for small fruits and 
orchards. There are other extensive areas where clay enters so largely 
into the soil as to form a clay loam. The counties on the north side 
of Albemarle Sound — a very fertile tract of country — are examples of 
this class. The alluvial lands of this section — lands always in the 
highest degree productive from the fact that all the elements of fertil- 
ity are intimately intermingled by having been once suspended in 
water — are of unusual extent and importance. The grain grown 
there supplies food not only for people of other parts of the State, but 
large populations in other States. There are also extensive areas when 
the marls of the tertiary formation come near the surface and increase 
the fertility of the soil. This is the case from the eastern part of 
Jones County to the Cape Fear River, and in portions of many other 




SCENES NEAR FAYETTEVILLE. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. II 

counties. Another class of lands in point of fertility equalling any in 
the world is that reclaimed from some of the swamp and lake areas in 
the extreme eastern portion of this region. These lands seem to be 
well nigh inexhaustible. The cultivation of three-quarters of a century 
has made no change in their productive capacity. To the lands re- 
claimed from the borders of marshes — so frequent near the shore — the 
same remark may be applied. Throughout this entire section cotton, 
corn, oats, sorghum, peas, peanuts, potatoes, especially sweet potatoes, 
are the staple crops; the culture of tobacco has been lately introduced 
with success. Upon the rich alluvions and the reclaimed lake and 
swamp lands, corn, with peas planted in the intervals between the corn, 
forms the exclusive crop. Occasionally on the broad low grounds of 
the Roanoke, wheat is grown to a considerable extent. In the coun- 
ties on the north of Albemarle Sound it is one of the staple crops. On 
the low grounds of the lower Cape Fear rice has long been the staple 
crop, and during recent years its culture has been extended northward 
along the low lying lands of the rivers and sounds. The upland 
variety of rice has been introduced within a few years past with en- 
tire success. This section is everywhere underlaid with marl — a 
mixture of carbonate of lime and clay formed by the decomposition of 
imbedded shells — sufficient in quantity, when raised and applied to the 
surface, to bring it to a high pitch of fertility and maintain it so. 

All the cultivated fruits and berries grow here in great perfection 
with the exception of the apple. This, though by no means an in- 
ferior fruit, is yet not equal in size and flavor to that of the Piedmont 
Plateau and Mountain regions. Among the swamps the cranberry is 
found in profusion. The melons are of every variety and of peculiar 
excellence. 



CLIMATE OF NORTH CAROLINA.^ 



IT will be conceded without question that the influence of climate on 
human progress is supreme, because its happy or adverse condi- 
tions affect all that relates to comfort, health, energy and success 
in the occupations of life. Those regions most abounding in fertile 
soil and exuberant vegetation, which favor the growth of many valu- 
able productions of nature, often have those treasures closed against 
the efforts of industry by unfavorable climatic conditions, an excess 
of heat and moisture, and an air poisoned with miasma, leading to 
loss of vigor, health, or of life itself. On the other hand the frigid 
regions of the North are equally unsuited for the permanent abode of 
men. The greatest nations have all developed in the regions of the 
temperate zone, which possess the most variable climate. Variations of 
heat and cold, of moisture and dryness, within extremes not too great 
are essential to the best development of vegetable as well as animal 
life. 



*From "North Carolina and its Resources" with statistical data 
revised to date. 



12 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Man especially requires the inspiration of the changing seasons; the 
summer, warm enough to assure the rewards of labor by the abun- 
dant yield of the fruits of the soil, the winter, with its bracing cold, 
giving a period of rest and renewal of vigor. 

This is not the place for extended statistical details in regard to 
the unexcelled climatic features of North Carolina, which must be 
sought in other publications, but a few general statements will con- 
vey to the seeker for a new home the most important facts about which 
he will naturally seek information. 

North Carolina lies on the same parallel of latitude as the central 
Mediterranean basin, that climatically most favored region of the 
globe. Though this position in the warm temperate zone determines 
the chief climatic features of the State, these are modified by var- 
ious causes, most important of which are: the proximity of the ocean 
in the east and the mountain system in the west. The State is 
naturally divided into three regions: the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont 
Plateau, and Mountain. The effect of the prolongation of the first into 
the Atlantic is to give the climate of that region a more insular or 
marine character, the effect of the presence of the sea being to lessen 
the changes in temperature both diurnal and seasonal and to increase 
the amount of precipitation. Contrary to the prevailing impression 
the Gulf Stream has no influence on the climate of the coastal region. 
The annual mean temperature at Southport, situated in the southeast 
corner of the State, is 64 degrees. Here vegetation of semi-tropical 
origin, as the palmetto and magnolia, flourishes, and rice is cultivated. 
The decrease in annual mean temperature towards the north is only to 
59 degrees at Coinjock and Weldon. The precipitation averages from 
50 to 60 inches annually, and exceeds 60 inches only along the immedi- 
ate coast from Hatteras to Lookout. The land is level and fertile, 
and the earlier and more rapid development of vegetation has lead to 
one of the most important industries of the State, that of truck farm- 
ing. The shipments of truck and strawberries to northern markets 
begins before the middle of April. 

On the other hand, in the mountain region the influence of eleva- 
tion predominates; the land rises in summits higher than any east of 
the Rocky Mountains; the summers are cooler, the winters more se- 
vere, but the dryness of the air renders the climate more salubrious. 
As representative of this region, Asheville (elevation 2,250 feet) has 
a mean annual temperature of 54 degrees and an average rainfall of 43 
inches. The white pine and the spruce, whose natural habitat is lower 
Canada, are abundant in the forests of the Blue Ridge. There are 
many picturesque and charming valleys, looked down upon by lofty 
peaks, which have a mild and agreeable climate. In this region occur 
the remarkable thermal or frostless belts where the season is known 
to be a month earlier in spring and later in autumn than in the val- 
leys below them. The Blue Ridge acts also as a barrier to all except 
the most severe cold waves from the northwest, which frequently ad- 
vance around the south end, effecting the Gulf States before they reach 
North Carolina. The heaviest rainfall occurs over counties just east 
or south of the Blue Ridge, from Linville southwest to Highlands. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. I3 

Intermediate between these sections may be found all grada- 
tions in climate, as in soil , products and scenery, suited to every indi- 
vidual taste. The climatic conditions are favorable for the growth 
of a great variety of crops, as cotton, corn, tobacco and small grains 
as well as almost every kind of fruit and vegetable. Invalids may 
find returning health at many of the now well known summer and 
winter resorts, while the pleasure seeker frequents the watering 
places along the east coast. The Piedmont Plateau is the seat of the 
manufacturing industries of the State which have undergone such 
phenomenal development during the past decade. 

To satisfy the natural demand for a demonstration of the facts of 
climate by figures, some records for the State at large are given in 
regard to the most important elements, temperature, precipitation 
and sunshine. The mean temperature for the State is 59 degrees 
Fahrenheit, and by seasons: spring 58 degrees, summer 76 degrees, 
autumn 60 degrees and winter 42 degrees. The autumn is warmer 
than spring in nearly all parts of the State; January is the coldest 
month of the year, but with no normal mean at any station even in 
the mountain region lower than 31 degrees Fahrenheit. July is the 
warmest month with no normal higher than 81 degrees Fahrenheit. 
The extremes in temperature for the State are considerable, as might 
be expected from the diversity of its physical features. During ex- 
tremely cold winters such as occurred in 1873, 1886, 1893 and 1899, 
temperatures below zero may be experienced in the western half of 
the State, but during a normal winter the minimum temperature in 
the centre portion of the State will sink to 10 degrees or 12 degrees 
for brief periods. During a normal summer the maximum tempera- 
ture, while frequently above 90 degrees, will hardly reach 100 degrees 
on more than two or three days. During the past half century the 
warmest years were 1887 and 1896, and the coldest 1893 and 1895. 

The normal average precipitation for North Carolina is 52 inches, 
and this is divided among the three sections as follows: Eastern 
(coastal plain), 54 inches; Central (Piedmont plateau), 48 inches, and 
Western (mountain region), 53 inches. Long records show a belt of 
mimimum precipitation extending through the Piedmont plateau; at 
the same time certain valleys west of the divide also have small 
amounts. At some stations in the southern portion of the mountain 
region the normal annual precipitation exceeds 70 inches; at no 
station is less than 40 inches received annually. 

One advantage must not pass unnoticed, namely that the rainfall 
is uniformly distributed throughout the year, and that during those 
months when crops require abundant moisture, the amount received is 
greatest. The largest averages occur in July and August, and the 
least in October and November during which the weather is especially 
favorable for the final work of the farmer, before the much needed rest 
for winter begins. 

The average snowfall for the State is 5 inches (unmelted), and 
this small amount is a matter of considerable importance as regards 
comfort in winter. During severe winter snow sometimes occurs in 
larger amounts and may remain unmelted for a week or so, but during 



r4 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

a normal season the ground will not remain white for more than two 
or three days at a time. Opportunities for sleighing or skating are 
rare in North Carolina. 

There remains to be considered one special advantage possessed by 
the State which is due to its position with reference to the prevailing 
course of cyclonic storms. The great path of these "weather breeders" 
is across the lake region, and thence northeastward down the St. 
Lawrence valley. North Carolina lies entirely outside of this path; 
of the total number of storms charted from 1874 to 1890 only 16 per cent, 
crossed North Carolina. These are, therefore, longer periods of pleas- 
ant weather than can be experienced in more northerly States. 

The date of the advent of spring affords a very suitable criterion 
of the excellence of the climate of any region, for an early spring 
means a long crop season and the possibility of wonderful development 
in truck farming for the early northern markets. The earliest date 
for the advent of spring is Feburary 28th at Hatteras, the latest May 
10th at Blowing Rock in the highest region of the Blue Ridge. 
The line for April 1st is fifty miles within the coast which it follows, 
and that for May 1st is very irregular and is chiefly governed by the 
topographical features of the great Smoky Mountain. Thus over 
the larger portion of North Carolina spring arrives during April. 



GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION. 



THE Constitution of North Carolina, like the Constitution of the 
United States, creates three co-ordinate departments of govern- 
ment — the Executive, Legislative and Judicial, and clearly 
defines the functions of each ; establishes educational and penal institu- 
tions; directs who shall be liable to militia duty, and prescribes the 
rights of citizenship. 

The right of citizenship in this commonwealth is acquired in three 
ways: 

First. All persons who are born in the State and continue to 
reside within its borders are ipso facto citizens thereof. 

Second. Citizens of other States of the Union become citizens by 
simply changing their residences to this State. 

Third. Foreigners can acquire citizenship by becoming resi- 
dents, declaring before the proper tribunal their purpose to become 
citizens, and taking the prescribed oath of allegiance. 

The Constitution ordains that " every male person born in the 
United vStates, and every male person who has been naturalized, 
twenty-one years old, or upward, who shall have resided in this State 
twelve months next preceding an election, and ninety days in the 
county in which he offers to vote, shall be deemed an elector." 

A recently adopted Constitutional amendment provides that 
"every person presenting himself for registration shall be able to read 
and write any section of the Constituli<in in the English language; and 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 5 

before he shall be entitled to vote, he shall have paid on or before the 
first day of May of the year in which he proposes to vote, his poll tax 
for the previous year as prescribed by Article 5, Sec. 1 of the Con- 
stitution. But no male person, who was, on January 1st, 1867, or at 
any time prior thereto, entitled to vote under the laws of any State in 
the United States wherein he then resided, and no lineal descendant of 
any such person shall be denied the right to register and vote at any 
election in this State by reason of his failure to possess the educa- 
tional qualifications herein prescribed: Provided, he shall have reg- 
istered in accordance with the terms of this Section prior to December 
1st, 1908." 

The Constitution regulates taxation by providing that the General 
Assembly levying a tax shall state the object to which it is to be 
applied, and enjoins that it be applied for no other purpose. It 
establishes an equation between the property and the capitation tax by 
directing that the capitation tax levied on each citizen shall be equal to 
the tax on property valued at three hundred dollars in cash. The capi- 
tation tax is levied on every male inhabitant in the State over twenty- 
one and under fifty years of age, and shall never exceed two dollars on 
the head. The effect of this limitation upon the capitation tax 
restricts the tax on each hundred dollars worth of property to sixty-six 
and two-thirds cents. It further directs that the amount levied for 
county purposes shall not exceed the double of the State tax, except 
for a special purpose and with the approval of the Legislature. 

The rate of State tax now levied for the present year is 21 
cents on one hundred dollars valuation, besides 18 cents for school pur- 
poses, and 4 cents for pensions. In addition there are taxes 
levied on certain pursuits, industries and interests devoted to certain 
purposes, some in aid of the general school fund, some for interest 
on public debt. 

The State Auditor's Report for 1900 shows that property amounting 
in value to $252,891,755.00 was listed for taxation. The taxes derived 
from this preperty were $587,932.10. In addition to this amount, 
special license and other taxes raised the total general taxes to 
$723,307.36. 

The school taxes were as follows: 

SCHOOL TAXES PAYABLE TO COUNTY TREASURER. 

White polls, 188,3% $ 279,051.25 

Indian polls. 654 ...... 971.49 

Negro polls, 73,975 . • . . . . 109,175.61 

Railroad, telegraph, steamboat, canal property, $34,499,974 62,719.93 

Bank stock, $3,520,940 ..... 6,523.23 

Building and loan stock, $357,809 .... 646.15 

Listed by white citizens, $243,103,720 . . . 439,401.82 

Listed by Indian citizens, $309,616 , . 557.28 

Listed by negro citizens, $9,478,399 ." 17,225.95 

Liquor dealers, first class ..... 73,261.66 

Liquor dealers, third class ..... ,526.00 

Tax on dispensaries ...... 1,200.00 



l6 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

From fines, forfeitures and penalties ... $ 5,790.34 

From other sources ... • . . 2,879.27 

Special school taxes ...... 333.30 

Graded school taxes ...... 32,267.39 

Total school taxes . . • . . $1,032,530.67 



COUNTY TAXES. 

County purposes ...... $ 763, 387. 33 

Poor 38,616,74 

Bridges and roads ....... 125,724.68 

Convicts and jails ...... 38,428.11 

Special county taxes ...... 352,465.63 

Total 1,318,622.49 

The executive power of the State Government is vested in a Gover- 
nor and a Lieutenant-Governor, elected by the popular vote for the 
term of four years, the Governor ineligible for two successive terms; an 
Attorney-General, a State Treasurer, an Auditor, a Secretary of State, 
and a Superintendent of Public Instruction, all of whom are eligible for 
re-election. 

The legislative department, also elected by the popular vote, elected 
for the term of two years, and holding biennial sessions. The 
Senate consists of fifty members, and is presided over by the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of the State, and the House of Representatives, of 120 
members, presided over by a speaker elected from among the members 
of the same. The sessions are limited by the Constitution to sixty 
days, but may be prolonged on emergency, but with suspension of 
the per diem pay. Extra sessions may be called by the Governor 
should urgent cause make it iiecessary; but such sessions are limited to 
twenty days, but may be extended farther, under the limitations of 
pay that govern the regular sessions. 

The Judicial department consists of a Supreme Court, presided over 
by a Chief Justice, and, in conjunction with four Associate Justices, 
forming the highest court in the State. The Justices are elected for a 
term of eight years, and are eligible to re-election. 

The Circuit or Superior Court is composed of sixteen judges, 
elected by the people of a like number of districts, and are elected for 
the same length of term and the same eligibility to re-election as the 
Justices of the Supreme Court. 

This State, in common with forty-eight other States, has a Bureau 
of Labor Statistics, the duty of which is to collect information upon 
the subject of labor, its relation to capital, the hours of labor, the 
earnings of laboring men and women, and their educational, financial 
and moral condition. It also collects general industrial facts, such' as 
the number of manufacturing enterprises, capital invested, number of 
newspapers and other useful information. The ofiice is directed by a 
Commissioner elected by popular vote. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 7 

Another adjunct of the State Government is the Corporation Com- 
mission. The Commission consists of three Commissioners also 
elected by popular vote. 



AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 



NORTH Carolina being essentially an agricultural State, it is but 
natural to find provision in the State Constitution for ati Agri- 
cultural Department, which is fully sustained by legislation, 
wholesome and wise. The existence of the Department amply demon- 
strates the breadth and determination of the intelligence of the State 
to elevate its chief industry to its rightful dignity and prominence as 
an avocation. The Department has a peculiar and a particular work, 
a work devoted to the promotion of the interests of the agricultural 
masses; the broadening of their opportunities and guaranteeing them 
protection from the .purchase of fraudulent fertilizers. The laws 
governing and directing the State Board of Agriculture have been 
changed from time to time, bringing it in closer touch with the 
people and rendering it more effective in the discharge of its duties 
relating to the fertilizer control. The Agricultural Department came 
into existence with the sanction of popular sentiment and under the 
shield and protection of the nublic law, and stands not only as a 
monument to the enlightened spirit of the age, but a beacon light of 
hope and encouragement to that great fundamental interest which, 
more than all others, has been the victim of neglect, the least con- 
sideration of statesmanship, 

The Department occupies a building in the City of Raleigh, 
arranged so as to be specially adapted to its many uses and, in the 
prosecution of the work a:ssigned to it it has done- — and this will 
suffice to illustrate its usefulness — what is expressed in the words of 
another. "It has saved to the State thousands of dollars annually, it 
has induced investments of large amounts in the mines, forests and 
agricultural lands of the State, and has developed the oyster grounds, 
and the mineral deposits and coal fields of the State; it has gathered 
statistics and published valuable books descriptive of the whole State, 
and distributed them so wisely that this is among the best advertised 
States." Its greatest single act, perhaps was the organization of the 
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. In its relation to the fer- 
tilizer trade it has been, and continues to be, of inestimable value to 
the farmer. For in the advancement of agriculture into the ranks of 
a science, so was there enormous application of the presumably scien- 
tifically compounded artifical fertilizers. Here was opened a wide and 
gaping door to fraud, which the Department was empowered to step 
forward and close. This has been doiie so vigorously, watchfully and 
effectively that fraudulent fertilizers are banished from the market, 
trustworthy brands have replaced them, and at the same time a great 
reduction in the cost has been made. 

The duties of the Department are manifold and far-reaching. First 



l8 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and foremost is that of fertilizer control. A small tonnage tax is levied 
and a very complete and thorough system of inspection has gradually been 
perfected, and careful analyses are made of every brand of fertilizer 
sold in the State. The work is pushed energetically during the rush 
seasons so that so far as possible the published analyses are in the 
hands of the public in time for use in that particular season for which 
the goods are being sold. The good herein accomplished for the 
farmers is simply incalculable. All grades of fertilizers are now, of 
necessity, uniform in quality and at least equal in valuable contents 
to the claim made by the manufacturer. The analytical work is done 
in the laboratories of the Department by the chemical division under 
the direction of the State Chemist, an officer of the Department. 

Investigations in and the dissemination of information regarding 
all matters relating to agriculture, horticulture and the natural re- 
sources of the State are a large part of the Department's work, and 
here the different divisions co-operate under the direction of the Com- 
missioner. These lines of work will be treated under the divisions to 
which the different features properly belong. 

The Department is under the direction and control of the Com- 
missioner of Agriculture, with the consent and advice of the Board of 
Agriculture, of which he is the presiding officer and executive head. 
The Board is composed entirely of practical farmers and its present 
composition includes some of the most progressive and brainy agricul- 
turists in the State. Besides the direction of the Department as out- 
lined above the Board has in its charge the State College of Agriculture 
and Mechanic Arts. This noble institution was originally a creation 
of the Board, and, after some experiments in regard to its controlling 
body, it has finally come back again under its original control, to the 
benefit of all concerned. The College itself is treated under a different 
head. 

The Commissioner of Agriculture is a State officer elected by the 
people for a term of four years and is eligible for re-election. The 
present occupant of the office is the Hon. S. L. Patterson, of Caldwell 
County, a practical farmer and at the same time a business man whose 
wide experience in both lines, as well as in the legislative halls of the 
State, as a member for years past of the Geological Board and of the 
Board of Agriculture, make him peculiarly fitted for the office. In his 
hands is the general direction of the whole Department, which, for the 
sake of specializing the work in each separate line, is subdivided into 
divisions as described below. 

Directly under the control of the Commissioner, his office force 
takes charge of the registration and inspection of the fertilizer trade 
and this entails an enormous mass of intricate detailed work during 
the busy seasons. In this office, too, are collected, tabulated and pub- 
lished the monthly crop reports and other statistics connected with the 
work. The Bulletin is edited, published and mailed from here and 
the accounts and other books of the Department kept in this office. 
Immigration work is under the direct control of the Commissioner, as is 
also the conducting of Farmers' Institutes, which are held all over the 
Stale as often as practicable. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 9 

Chemical Division— The State Chemist is the controlling officer 
here and under his direction is carried on the analysis of fertilizers as 
before mentioned. The Department, in co-operation with the National 
Government, is now conducting a widely extended series of soil surveys 
in the State and the direction of these, together with the chemical 
analyses of the many soil samples collected, also lies with this di- 
vision. Under recent State Legislation the carrying out of the pure 
food laws rests with the Department and the State Chemist has con- 
trol of the collecting and analyzing of the foods and food products sold 
within our borders. Many hundreds of these food analyses have 
already been published and much more work in this line is now under 

way. 

Under certain proper regulations the analysis of minerals and ores 
and of the natural drinking waters is carried out here, free of charge 
to residents of the State, and this work is proving of much value. 

Two newly established test farms are already doing good work and 
a large increase in this line is projected in the near future. These 
farms are conducted along the lines of practical usefulness rather than 
in scientific investigations of more remote or doubtful value and their 
work is in co-operation with the Department's laboratory and under the 
direction of the State Chemist. 

Veterinary Division — Under the direction of the Commissioner 
the veterinary division has in hand the cattle inspection and the 
carrying out of the quarantine regulations. This is a matter of very 
great importance to the cattle interests of the State which can be 
better appreciated when it becomes known that the release of a county 
from the quarantine regulations of the infected area will cause a rise 
in the value of all cattle within that county of about half a cent per 
pound. The Veterinarian visits all areas in which the stock are af- 
fected with enzootic conditions in cattle and horse diseases and advises 
with the people regarding prevention and remedies. He examines and 
reports on all specimens submitted from diseased animals and in general 
looks after the live stock interests of the State at large. This division 
has already been of untold good to the State although of only com- 
paratively recent creation. 

Entomological Division — The State Entomologist's duties are two- 
fold. Nursery inspection and the issuance of certificates of freedom of 
the stock from injurious insect pests on the one hand — (this work 
being under the direction of the Crop Pest Commission, of which the 
Commissioner of Agriculture is Chairman) — and general work in com- 
batting the ravages of injurious insects throughout the State on the 
other, This latter work includes visits to all areas affected with any 
form of insect pest in an aggravated degree, so far as possible ; the ex- 
amination of any reported damage to crops from causes attributable to 
insect life and the suggestion of remedies and preventive measures, and 
the collection and dissemination of all information of practical value 
in combatting and preventing the great damages now done to almost all 
kinds of crops by insect pests. The examination and identification of 
specimens submitted, with notes regarding their character, is part of 
the regular routine and, among other things, a mapping of the State 



20 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROTJNA. 

is being carried out with regard to the distribution of each known pest 
as material for it comes to hand. Collections, both economic and 
general, are well under way and systematically added to as occasion 
serves. 

Bacteriological and Botanical Division — The chief work in this 
division is the bacteriological examination of the drinking waters of 
the State. Besides, tests are made foi diphtheria, typhoid, tuber- 
culosis and other contagious diseases for the local health authorities as 
well as for the State Board of Health. Fungoid plant diseases are 
studied and reported on and botanical specimens of all kinds identified 
for the public, free of cost. 

Museum — This is described under a separate head, but beyond the 
regular administrative duties, the Curator is charged with the identifi- 
cation of all zoological specimens, other than insects submitted, as 
well as with the widely miscellaneous requests for information that are 
always received by an institution of this character. A large volume 
of information regarding the mineral and other resources of the State 
is also supplied through this division. 

The Board of Agriculture has been the most potent factor in 
bringing the advantages of soil and climate and the natural resources 
of the State to the notice of the world. It has been faithful and true 
to the trust imposed by law and it has led in every move looking to the 
development of the State and the prosperity of its people. 

The Department is in a sense, a "bureau of information" for the 
State, and all inquiries addressed to the Commissioner touching agri- 
culture, lands, immigration, natural resources, or upon any subject 
inviting to investment in the State, will be promptly answered with 
the best information at hand. 

THE STATE MUSEUM. 

The State Board of Agriculture has enlarged and perfected the 
State Museum. This was first made possible by the wise provision of 
the Act of the Assembly in 1891 which provided that all non-perishable 
material used by the State in its presentation of resources at the great 
Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893, should revert to the Board 
for the purpose of adding to its then small collection. Thus has the 
Board had the first substantial aid from the State in this work, and 
very wisely has it been administered. Tne Board also has the hearty 
co-operation of the State Geological Survey in the museum work, 
especially in those divisions devoted to metalliferous ores, minerals 
and building stones. 

The growth started by the Chicago Exhibit in 1893 has continued 
to the extent that two additions to the building have been added since 
to allow for it. The space now occupied is something like thirty-five 
thousand square feet and the growth in all lines is steady, healthy and 
constant. 

The departments are — Geology and Mineralogy, 3 rooms; Agricul- 
ture and Horticulture, 3 rooms; Zoology and Commercial Fisheries, 2 
rooms; History, 1 room; Forestry and Botany, 2 rooms; Ethnology and 
miscellaneous, 1 room, with work and storage rooms. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 21 

The entire second floor of the Agricultural Building is devoted ex- 
clusively to Museum purposes, the entrance being about the center of 
the Edenton Street front of the Building. 

The rooms are handsomely furnished with oak cases, the floors com- 
fortably carpeted and the whole steam-heated. In material and 
arrangement there is no collection south of Washington to compare 
with it. The contents of these several rooms are classified and ar- 
ranged with reference to giving the greatest facility to the student, 
sight-seer or investor. 

The Curator is Mr. H. H. Brimley, who also does the taxidermy 
work and modelling for the Museum. 



GEOLOCxICAL SURVEY. 



THE North Carolina Geological Survey as at present organized was 
authorized by the General Assembly in 1891, and in May of the same 
year Professor Joseph Austin Holmes was commissioned as State 
Geologist. The object of the Survey is two- fold, as was expressed in the 
Act creating it: "The thorough examination of the nature and extent 
of the mineral and timber resources of the State." The work of the 
Survey has been steadily pushed forward and the results of its work 
and investigation are published in a series of bulletins and economic 
papers, which are sent to those desiring information on the special 
subjects treated, on receipt of the necessary postage for mailing them, 
sent to the State Geologist, at Chapel Hill, N. C. 

The following is a list of the publications of the Geological Survey 
(some of which are out of print) and of those that are in preparation: 
1. Iron Ores of North Carolina, by Henry B. C. Nitze, 1893. Svc, 
239 pp, , 20 pi. , and map. Postage 10 cents. 

»2. Building Stone in North Carolina, by Joseph A. Holmes and J. 
Volney Lewis. In preparation. 

3. Gold Deposits in North Carolina, by Henry B. C. Nitze and 
Geo. B. Hanna, 1896. 8vo. , 196 pp., 14 pi., and map. Out of print. 

4. Road Material and Road Construction in North Carolina, by J. A. 
Holmes and William Cain, 1893. 8vo. , 88 pp. Out of print. 

The Forests, Forest Lands and Forest Products of Eastern North 
Carolina, by W. W. Ashe, 1894. 8vo. , 128 pp. , 5 pi. Postage 5 cents. 

6. The Timber Trees of North Carolina, by Gifford Pinchot and 
W. W. Ashe, 1897. 8vo. , 227 pp. , 22 pi. Postage 10 cents. 

7. Forest Fires: Their Destructive Work, Causes and Prevention, 
by W. W. Ashe, 1895. 8vo. , 66 pp. , 1 pi. Postage 2 cents. 

8. Water Powers in North Carolina by George F. Swain, Joseph A. 
Holmes and E. W. Myers. 1899. 8vo. , 362 pp., 16 pi. Postage 16 
cents. 

9. Monazite and Monazite Deposits in North Carolina, by Henry 
B. C. Nitze, 1895. 8vo., 47 pp., 5 pi. Postage 4 cents. 

10. Gold Mining in North Carolina and other Appalachian States, 
by Henry B. C. Nitze and A. J. Wilkins, 1897. 8vo., 164 pp., 10 pi. 
Postage 10 cents. 



22 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



11. Corundum and the Basic Magnesian Rocks of Western North 
Carolina, by J. Volney Lewis, 1895. 8vo. , 107 pp., 6 pi. Postage 4 
cents. 

12. Drinking Water Supplies in North Carolina, by Joseph A. 
Holmes. In preparation. 

13. Clay Deposits and Clay Industries in North Carolina, by 
Heinrich Reis, 1897. Bvo. , 157 pp. , 12 pi. Postage 10 cents. 

14. Mica Deposits and Mica Mining in North Carolina, by Joseph 
A. Holmes. In preparation. 

15. Mineral Waters of North Carolina, by F. P. Venable. In 
press. 

16. A List of Elevations in North Carolina, by J. A. Holmes and 
E. W. Myers. In preparation. 

17. Historical Sketch of North Carolina Scientific and Economic 
Surveys; and Bibliography of North Carolina Geology, Mineralogy and 
Natural History, by J. A. Holmes and L. C. Glenn. In preparation. 

18. Road Materials and Construction, by Joseph A. Holmes and 
William Cain. In preparation. 

19. Corundum and the Peridotites in Western North Carolina, by 
J. H. Pratt and J. V. Lewis. In preparation. 

20. The Loblolly Pine in Eastern North Carolina, by W. W. Ashe. 
In preparation. 

Economic Papers, No. 1, on the Maple Sugar Industry in Western 
North Carolina; No. 2, on recent road legislation in North Carolina; 
No. 3, on Talc and Pyrophyllite Deposits in North Carolina; No. 4, on 
the Mining Industry in North Carolina for 1900; No. 5, on the Mining In- 
dustry in North Carolina for 1901. In preparation. Postage, 2 cents 
in each case. 

The progress of the work has been most gratifying and the appre- 
ciation of its usefulness is steadily growing among the people of the State. 



PUBLIC CHARITIES. 

THE State has three commodious hospitals for the insane. The 
oldest of these is located at Raleigh and can accommodate about four 
hundred patients. The hospital has one hundred and eighty acres of 
cultivated land on which it raises annually about $10, 000. 00 worth of pro- 
ducts for its patients. The second hospital for white insane is situated 
in the mountain town of Morganton. The buildings there are very 
handsome and comfortable, furnishing rooms for about eight hundred 
patients. It has a large farm attached to it, and raises about $20,000. 00 
worth of products. 

At Goldsboro is the asylum for the colored insane. It treats an- 
nually about 500 patients, and is very complete in its appointments. 

The State maintains at Ralei<;h an institution for the white blind and 
also an institute for the deaf, dumb, and blind of the negro race. 
Both these institutions are comfortable and commodious and both are 
beautifully located. The white deaf and dumb are cared for in a 
separate institution at Morganton. This is a new institution and is pro- 
Yided with every comfort. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 23 

RELIGION. 



THE laws and constitution grant no special favors to any creed or 
denomination, nor do they allow any interference with any man's 
conscience in religious matters. 
The following table, carefully calculated by those in authority in 
the several denominations, will serve to show the names of the denomi- 
nations and the number of communicants or members in each for the 
year 1895-96: 

Methodist Episcopal Church South, (white) 129,040 

Methodist Episcopal Church South, (colored) . . . • 17,000 

African M. E. Zion, (colored) 121,000 

Methodist Protestant . . . . • 16,416 

Methodist Episcopal Church, [Northern], (colored) . . 7,200 

Quakers (or Friends) 5,466 

Lutherans, (white) 16,000 

Lutherans, (colored) 1,000 

German Reformed Church , 3,200 

Moravians 3,829 

Presbyterians 30,292 

Associate Reformed Presbyterians, (white) 2^300 

Christians, (O'Kellyites) 14,508 

Episcopalians ' . . . . 9,000 

Baptist, (Missionary, white and colored) 265,579 

Baptist, (Anti-Missionary) 9,750 

Baptist, (Campbellites) . . . ■ 6,000 

Baptist, (Free Will) . 20,081 

Baptist, Free Will, (colored) 19,000 

Roman Catholics, (white) 3,800 

Roman Catholics, (colored) 200 



NEWSPAPKRS. 



OWING to the fact that North Carolina has few cities, the number of 
daily newspapers in the State is comparatively small — there be- 
ing only thirty (including morning and afternoon) in all. The 
commonwealth is, however, rich in well-conducted weekly, semi- weekly 
and monthly papers. These, amounting in number to one hundred and 
ninety-eight weekly, nineteen semi-weekly, fifty-two monthly, ten 
semi-monthly, four quarterly and one annually, reach all classes of the 
population. 



POPULATION. 



THE population of North Carolina is remarkably homogeneous. The 
entire foreign born population reaches only 4,492. The white popu- 
lation numbers 1,263,603. The negro population numbers 624,469. 
The aboriginal Indians still own a wide section of country in Western 



34 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



North Carolina, and number 5,687. The increase in population since 
the census of 1890, has been 275,863 or 17.1 per cent. The total land 
surface of North Carolina is about 48,580 square miles; the average 
number of persons to the square mile is therefore 39.0. 

The population, though at present so homogeneous, is sprung from 
many different nationalities. In 1659, Sir John Yeamans left part of 
an English colony on the lower Cape Fear. 

In 1709, the Baron DeGraflfenried, heading a colony of Swiss, settled 
at the mouth of the Neuse River, and founded the City of New Bern. 

A small colony of French Huguenots, fleeing from persecution, 
settled in the same section. The Lords Proprietors also sent many 
settlers into the Cape Fear country. 

In 1754, Count Zinzendorff founded a Moravian colony in the 
present county of Forsyth. 

Perhaps the largest body of native Europeans coming approximately 
at one time, and constituting a distinctive foreign element, was the 
Scotch or Highland colony, which occupied the country along the upper 
waters of the Cape Fear, now known as the counties of Bladen, Cum- 
berland, Moore, Robeson, Richmond and Harnett. These came, some 
voluntarily, most of them by compulsion, after the disastrous defeat of 
Culloden, in 1746. They have also blended with the other European 
families, but still retain in marked degree their national characteris- 
tics of piety, morality, and care of education. 

The other chief elements of settlement were refugees from religious 
persecution in Virginia, who gradually filled up the northeastern 
peninsula around the waters of Albemarle sound and contiguous terri 
tory. In process of time, bodies of immigrants arrived from New 
Jersey and Pennsylvani^i, hearing of the rich lands and fine climate of 
the upper country. Some bodies of these were of German descent. 
A still larger body was Scotch- Irish. Both planted themselves in 
harmonious contiguity from Orange County on the east to Catawba 
County — as that county became eventually known — along the rich 
bottoms or the finely timbered uplands of the Eno, the Yadkin and the 
Catawba Rivers, and became the foundation of that population destined 
to prove in coming years its love of liberty, its hostility to oppression, 
its indomitable courage, its wakeful care of education, its intense re- 
ligious fervor, its energies and its industry; a population, withal, so 
widely diffused as to have been greatly instrumental in forming the 
character of the North Carolinian by the domination of these leading 
traits and qualities. 

Of the negro population it suffices to say that it is chiefly descended 
from the slaves captured in former years in Africa, and introduced 
into the South by English Dutch, and, in late years. New England 
slave-ships. Importation of slaves into North Carolina was very rare 
after the beginning of this century. The increase, therefore, has been 
from natural causes, a genial climate, a humane public system and the 
kindly temper of the owners, a temper softened as much by humanity 
— very often by affection — as it was influenced by interest. Through 
these combined causes, the negro population increased until it early 
attained the ratio to that of the whites it has held and still holds — 
about one- third of the whole. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 2$ 

Since the emancipation of the race, the policy of the State govern- 
ment, sustained by a just and humane public sentiment, has done 
everything consistent with the existence of insuperable and ineradicable 
ethnical antagonisms, to efface all the badges of former slavery. The 
negro has all the rights of the citizen, and is secured and protected in 
the exercise of them with the same jealous safeguard of the law as the 
white citizen. He testifies before the courts without question as to 
race competency; he accumulates, if he will, property, personal and 
real; he is admitted on the same terms with the whites to the practice 
of the learned professions; he has the amplest freedom in the exercise 
of his religious beliefs, and the most absolute control in his ecclesi- 
astical affairs. His infirm, the deaf, the dumb, the blind and the 
insane, are cared for by the State in institutions, proportionately to 
the number of patients, as large, as well built, as costly, and as well 
supervised by competent heads, as those of the whites. His education 
is well provided for, and though he pays a little more than one-third 
of the poll-tax, and one-thirtieth of such property tax as is assigned to 
the maintenance of the school fund, his allotment of that fund is in 
proportion to population, not to that of race contribution. 

The Indian portion of the population is confined to the mountain 
counties of Jackson, Swain and Graham. They are a remnant of the 
tribe which was removed in 1836 to the trans-Mississippi reservation, 
and which obtained the consent of the government to be exempted 
from the decree of expatriation. They were allotted in the counties 
above named a tract of about 100, 000 acres, and left in the enjoyment 
of their former habits and customs. They are for the most part 
christianized, and speak both English and their native tongue. They 
are peaceable and generally law-abiding, but do not accumulate property, 
are only industrious enough to meet daily wants. There are about 
1,800 of them, and they increase slowly. 

Of the Croatans of Robeson County, little definite can be said. 
Their origin is involved in doubt, though it is clear that they form a 
mixed and distinct class of the blended Indian and white races. These 
people are provided by the State with their separate schools, and they 
take great interest in the education of their children. 



GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF NORTH 

CAROLINA. 



GEOLOGY. 



AvS one travels across the State of North Carolina, from its eastern 
shores to its western boundary, it will be noticed that when about 
half the distance has been passed, there is left behind a region 
which is very level or gently undulating, the surface of which is cov- 
ered with sand and loam soils, from which hard rocks are almost 
entirely absent; and there is entered another region the surface of which 
becomes more and more hilly until it culminates in the high mountains 
in the western portion of the State, and that the soil is mingled more 



26 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



or less with hard, granitic, slaty rocks. It will also be noticed that 
the geological formations of the eastern half of the State are radically 
different from the central portions of the State, which are in turn 
different from the mountain regions. 

There are three great physiographic divisions in the State which 
have been designated as the Coastal Plain, Piedmont Plateau and Moun- 
tain regions respectively, whose boundaries in a general way are 
rather sharply defined. The age of the rock formations instead of 
being contigious are widely separated; that covering the Coastal Plain 
being some of the most recent formations while those of the Piedmont 
Plateau are among the oldest, with the exception of the limited 
red sandstones of the Trias areas. 

These three physiographic divisions are indicated in a general way 
on the accompanying map, together with the minor geologic rock 
formations of the Piedmont Plateau and Mountain regions. In the 
Coastal Plain region the formations have to be shown practically as a 
unit for the reason that the rock formations lie one above the other so 
that although there are at least five successive geological periods, only 
the uppermost is exposed except here and there in isolated places, and 
along the banks of such rivers as the Cape Pear and Roanoke, where 
these have cut down and left high steep bluffs, exposing a number of 
geologic formations. 

The Coastal Plain region as indicated above, represents the most 
recent geologic formations composed of gravels, sands, clays, and 
marls arranged in nearly horizontal layers with the finer material nearer 
the coast. Along its eastern borders this region contains the sounds 
and bays, the sand dunes and ridges, the swamps and marshes, and 
other characteristics of a seashore region. Further inland it is gently 
undulating and has more of the upland and less of the marsh and to- 
wards its western boimdary the swamps disappear almost entirely, the 
upland predominates and the surface becomes more undulating and 
even hilly in places. The soils toward the east are composed of fine 
sand and silt, while nearer the western border of the region they con- 
tain a larger proportion of coarse sand or gravel mingled with clay. The 
extent of this region is from Raleigh eastward to the coast, with its 
western boundaries roughly defined as extending from the western part 
of Warren through ' Franklin, Wake, Cumberland, Chatham, Moore, 
Montgomery and Anson Counties. 

Along the western border of the Coastal Plain region there are 
occasional ''outcrops'"of''hard granites and slates exposed along the beds 
of streams, where the once overly ing'sands and clays have been washed 
away." In the southeastern counties of this region limestone is exposed 
at the surface along the banks of streams in a large number of locali- 
ties. This rock is of sufficient quality that it can in many cases be 
used for the making of lime, macadamizing roads, and perhaps in some 
cases for building purposes. 

The Piedmont Plateau region, extending westward from the Coastal 
Plain region to the Mountain region, is about 125 miles in width and 
has an average elevation approximating 900 feet. Crossing this Pied- 
mont Plateau obliquely are a series of geologic formations which are 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 2/ 

in general parallel to the mountains and seashore. The most eastern 
of these formations is a narrow belt of Traisic sandstone and shales which 
has a maximum width of about IS miles, and extends from Oxford in 
Granville County across the State through portions of Wake, Durham, 
Chatham, Moore, Montgomery, Richmond and Anson Counties. It is 
in these formations that the coal deposits of Chatham and Moore Coun- 
ties, and the available beds of red, gray, and brown sandstone have 
been found. On the northeast of this sandstones, and between 
it and the Coastal Plain region there are considerable areas of 
granite extending across portions of Wake, Franklin, Warren, Vance 
and Granville Counties. To the west there is an older formation of 
metamorphosed slates and shists which cross through Person, Orange, 
Randolph, Montgomery, Stanley, and Union Counties, and has a gene- 
ral width of from 20 to 40 miles. Just west of this formation there is 
an area of granites, between which and the Mountain region are gneisses, 
probably Archean. Near the western boundary of the Piedmont 
Plateau region is the section of the two sandstone belts which is much 
more limited in area than the one of the east and extends from the 
Virginia line across portions of Rockingham and Stokes Counties, and 
has a maximum width of from 4 to 5 miles. 

The Mountain region includes the Blue Ridge, Great Smokies, and 
the country between, which is cut across by the numerous cross ranges 
separated by narrow valleys and deep gorges. The average elevation 
of this region is about 2,700 feet above the sea level, but the summits 
of many ridges and peaks are over 5,000 feet. A considerable num- 
ber of peaks reach a height of over 6,000 feet, the highest of which is 
Mount Mitchell with an elevation of 6,711 feet. Over the larger part 
of this region are to be found the older crystal ine rocks, gneisses and 
granites, probably Archean, which are greatly folded and turned on 
their edges. On the western and eastern borders of this Mountain 
region approximately along the line of the Blue Ridge and Great 
Smokies there are two narrow belts of younger rocks consisting of lime- 
stones, shales, and conglomerates and the metamorphosed marbles, 
quartzites and slates. The age of these rocks is unknown and has been 
designated as the Ocoee. There has been no fossils found in any of 
these rocks. In this region as in the Piedmont Plateau, the rocks are 
decayed to a considerable extent and thus have produced deep soils 
which vary in character according to the rocks from which they have 
been formed. The soils are for the most part porous and fertile 
affording a luxuriant vegetation, in many places the slopes of the moun- 
tains being covered by heavy virgin forests. Where the rocks that have 
decomposed contain a large percentage of aluminous minerals, a large 
amount of clay has been formed. 

That North Carolina is noted for its variety of minerals is an ac- 
knowledged fact and the continual discoveries of new localities of vari- 
ous minerals in commercial quantity has made it one of the foremost 
fields for exploiting and research by the prospector and mineralogist. 
Stimulated by the success of others and the remarkable discoveries 
already made, there is constantly a large number of men, either in 
their own interests or representing others, locating mines and prospects 
within its borders. 



28 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Minerals that were formerly supposed to be rare in their occurrence 
have, upon commercial demand arising for them, been found in con- 
siderable quantity. Thus zircon and monazite have been mined in 
North Carolina by the ton in response to the demand for them by the 
incandescent light manufacturing companies and Samaskite by the hun- 
dred-weight when needed for use in chemical research. Many new 
species have been furnished to science, some of which are among the 
most beautiful and valuable of the minerals. 

From one cause and another. North Carolina has gained the reputa- 
tion of containing a little of nearly all of the minerals but not much 
of any one. There may be some truth in this, inasmuch as minerals 
are found probably in greater variety in this State than in any 
other, with one exception. While many of these minerals are in very 
small amounts and some occur very sparingly, many others are in large 
quantities that make them of considerable economic importance. 
North Carolina has always been counted as one of the gold-producing 
States of the Union, and although, since the opening of the western 
fields, she is far from the lead in the quantity of gold produced there is 
still considerable being mined. Bonanzas in North Carolina gold fields 
are very rare, but properties that will pay a good interest on the 
money invested are not rare. There are also many good copper and 
iron properties, some of which, on account of the lack of railroad 
facilities, have not been producers until the recent increase in the 
price of both of these metals. Good silver properties are extremely 
rare, and more rare are those of lead and zinc. On the other hand of 
corundum, mica, (muscovite) talc and monazite there is no State that can 
excel North Carolina in these minerals. 

MINERAL RESOURCES IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

There are 200 species and sub-species of minerals that have been 
identified in North Carolina, some of which are new species that were 
first identified in this State; these are indicated in the list below by an 
asterisk. 



1. Actinolite 

2. Albite 

3. Allanite 

4. Altaite 

5. Alunogen 

6. Anatase 

7. Andesite 

8. Anglesite 

9. Anorthite 

10. Anthophyllite 

11. Anthracite coal 

12. Antimony 

13. Apatite 

14. Arsenopyrite 

15. Arfedsonite 

16. Argentite 

17. Arragonite 



18. Asbestos 

19. Auerlite* 

20. Augite 

21. Autunite 

22. Azurite 

23. Barite 

24. Barnhardtite* 

25. Beryl 

26. Biotite 

27. Bismite 

28. Bismuthinite 

29. Bismutite 

30. Bituminous coal 

31. Bornite 

32. Braunite 

33. Breunerite 

34. Bronzite 



35. Brookite 

36. Calamine 

37. Calcite 

38. Cassiterite 

39. Cerargyrite 

40. Cerolite 

41. Cerusite 

42. Chabazite 

43. Chalcedony 

44. Chalcocite 

45. Chalcopyrite 

46. Chalcanthite 

47. Chlorite 

48. Chlorotold 

49. Chrysocolla 

50. Chrysoprase 

51. Chromite 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



29 



52. Chrysolite(Olivine) 103. 

53. Columbite 

54. Copper 104. 

55. Corundum 105. 

56. Corundophilite* 106. 

57. Covellite 107. 

58. Crocidolite 108. 

59. Crocoite 109. 

60. CuUasageeite* no. 

61. Cuprite iii. 

62. Cuprosheelite 112. 

63. Cyanite 113. 

64. Cyrtolite 114. 

65. Deweylite 115. 

66. Diamond 116. 

67. Diaspore 117. 

68. Dolomite 118. 

69. Dudleyite 119. 

70. Dufrenite 120. 

71. Edenite 121. 
7a. Enstatite 122. 

73. Epidote 123. 

74. Fergusonite 124. 

75. Fibrolite 125. 

76. Fluorite 126. 

77. Fuchsite 127. 

78. Garnet 128. 

79. Galena 129. 

80. Gahnite 130. 

81. Genthite 131. 

82. Garnierite 132. 

83. Glauconite 133. 

84. Gold 134. 

85. Goslarite 135. 

86. Gothite 136. 

87. Gypsum i37. 

88. Graphite 138. 

89. Gumite 139. 

90. Halite 140. 

91. Halloysite 141. 

92. Hatchettolite* 142. 

93. Hausmanite 143. 

94. Hematite 144. 

95. Hiddenite*(Var. of 145. 

spodumene) 146. 

96. Hyalite 147. 

97. Hydrofergusonite 148. 

98. Hypersthene 149. 

99. Ilmenite (Minacca- 150. 

nite) 151- 

100. Iron (meteoric) 152. 

loi. Itacolumyte 153- 

102. Jefferisite 154. 



Kammererite (Var, 

penninite) 
Kaolinite 
Kerrite* 
Labradorite 
Lazulite 
Leucopyrite 
Limonite 
Linarite 
Lucasite* 
Maconite* 
Magnesite 
Magnetite 
Malachite 
Marcasite 
Margarite 
Marmolite 
Martite 
Melanterite 
Melaconite 
Microline 
Mitchellite* 
Molybdenite 
Molybdite 
Monazite 
Montanite 
Montmorrillonite 
Muscovite 
Nagyagite 
Niter 

Octehedrite 
Oligoclase 
Olivenite 
Orthoclase 
Opal 

Penninite 
Phlogopite 
Phosphuranylite* 
Picrolite 
Pleonaste 
Polycrase 
Prochlorite 
Psilomelane 
Pseudomalachite 
Pyrite 

Pyromorphite 
Pyrolusite 
Pyrophyllite 
Pyrrhotite 
Pyroxene 
Quartz 

Rhodochrosite 
Rhodolite* 



155. Rogersite* 

156. Ruby Spinel 

157. Ruhherfordite* 

158. Rutile 

159. Samarskite 

160. Saponite 

161. Scheelite 

162. Schreibersite 

163. Scorodite 

164. Serpentine 

165. Siderite 

166. Silver 

167. Sillimanite 

168. Smaragdite 

169. Sphalerite 

170. Sperrylite 

171. Spessarite 

172. Spinel 

173. Spodumene 

174. Staurolite 

175. Steatite 

176. Stibnite 

177. Stilbite 

178. Stolzite 

179. Succinite (amber) 

180. Sulphur 

181. Talc 

182. Tantalite 

183. Tenorite 

184. Tetrahedrite 

185. Tetradymite 

186. Thorite 

187. Thulite 

188. Titanite (sphene) 

189. Torbernite (Uran- 

ite) 

190. Tourmaline 

191. Tremolite 

192. Troilite 

193. Uraninite 

194. Uranophane 

195. Uranotil 

196. Vermiculite 

197. Vivianite 

198. Wad 

199. WavftUite 

200. Wellsite* 

201. Willcoxite* 

202. Wolframite 

203. Xanthitane 

204. Xenotime 

205. Zircon 

206. Zoisite 



30 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Of this number 68 are minerals that are of economic importance, and 
of this 68 there are but 32 that are known to occur in the State in 
sufficient quantity to make them of any commercial value. Of this last 
number 23 have been mined during the past few years and are as fol- 
lows: Gold (native, ) Auriferous Pyrite; Pyrite; Silver, Argentiferous 
Galena; Bornite, Calcopyrite, Chalcocite, which are the copper ores; 
Magnetite, Hematite and Limonite, the iron ores; Corundum; Musco- 
vite (mica,) Kaolin; Talc; Pyrophilite; (used the same as Talc) 
Monazite; Chromite; Graphite Zircon; Coal; and the gem minerals 
Beryl, Hiddenite, Amethyst, Ruby, Rhodolite and Almandite. 

It will not be possible to take up in detail all of these minerals, 
but the more important will be briefly discussed. 

GOLD AND SILVER. 

The area in which gold deposits are known to occur is a broad one 
and embraces from 8,000 to 10,000 square miles of the middle and 
western counties. There are three types of occurrences of the gold 
ores, which are as follows: 

1. In quartz fissure veins, carrying either free gold, or gold 
bearing sulphurets. 

2. Impregnations of free gold and finely divided sulphurets in the 
county shists and slates. 

3. Placer deposits. 

The first gold mining in the State was confined to the placer deposits 
which are alluvial beds carrying free gold, from dust to nuggets that 
weigh 10 to 15 pounds. The gold in these deposits originated either 
in the fissure veins or in the country shists or slates, but these have 
become decomposed and disintegrated, and the products of alteration 
have been transported by water and deposited in the bed of the streams, 
which are now beds of gravel, and represent the original position of 
the stream. In following up the placer deposits, the veins have been 
encountered and where these carried free gold they were extensively 
worked but it is only in comparatively recent years that the sulphuret 
ores could be successfully treated. 

With the improved processes that have been discovered for the 
treatment of these sulphide ores, very low grades can now be profitably 
worked, but it is the rich placer deposits and fissure veins, carrying 
free gold that have furnished the bonanzas in all gold fields. With 
conditions favorable to mining, and plenty of ore, a sulphide ore that 
carries $5.00 per ton can be profitably worked. 

The first authentic account of gold having been found in the State 
was that of a 17 pound nugget on the Reed Plantation in 1799. This 
caused a systematic search to be made which resulted in the finding of 
a large number of nuggets. This stimulated search elsewhere and was 
the real beginning of gold mining in North Carolina. By 1825, gold 
mining was being vigorously carried on all along the eastern slopes 
of the mountains (Piedmont Plateau region). The exhaustion of the 
easily worked deposits and the California discoveries had a retarding 
influence on the gold mining, and at the outbreak of the war there was 
an end to all work. It is only in the past six years that there has been 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 3 1 

a healthy revival of the gold mining in the State^^and the growth ot 
this industry has continued to increase since that time. 

There are in the neighborhood of 400 localities in the State that 
have been mined for gold and these mining districts have been more 
extensively developed than those in any other portion of the State. 
At the present time, however, there are not over 15 mines that are 
being worked, principally in Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Davidson, Stanley, 
Montgomery and Rowan Counties; of these very few can be said to be 
steady producers, most of the work being preliminary development or 
prospecting, with irregular and spasmodic output. 

These gold mines of North Carolina are distributed in three main 
belts, the Eastern Carolina, the Carolina and the South Mountain 
belts. 

The Eastern Carolina belt covers an area of about 300 square miles 
in Warren, Halifax, Franklin and Nash Counties, and extends in a 
northwesterly direction from a point near the Thomas mine, 1% miles 
northeast of Ransom's Bridge to and across the Tar River. The country 
rocks are diorite, chlorite shists, and gneiss. The district is char- 
acterized by a great abundance of narrow quartz veinlets from a twelfth 
to 1^2 inches in thickness. Among the mines of this belt are the 
Thomas, Kearney, Taylor, Mann, Davis, Nick-Arrington, Mann-Arring- 
ton and Portis. The two latter are the most important of these. 
The Portis is located near Ransom's Bridge, in Franklin County, and 
the work done consists principally of surface sluicing and hydraulic- 
ing the soils and gravels to a depth of 5 to 30 feet, for the gold that 
has been deposited in these placer deposits as a result of the breaking 
down of the rocks and veinlets during the process of weathering. The 
Mann-Arrington is 5 miles southeast of the Portis in the northwest 
corner of Nash County, at Argo P. O. The ore body consists of 
quartz lenses up to 12 inches in thickness interlaminated in the shists. 
The depth of the shaft is 108 feet. 

The mines of the Carolina belt can be roughly divided into three 
sub- belts: The slate belt which includes an area of metamorphic slates 
and shists extending in a general southwesterly direction across the 
central part of the State and ranging in width from 8 to 50 miles. The 
rocks are argillaceous, sericitic, and chloritic, metamorphosed slates 
and shists; sedimentary pre- Jura- trias slates, and ancient divitrified 
volcanic rocks. This would include the mines in Person, Alamance, 
Orange, Chatham, Moore, Randolph, Montgomery, Stanley and Union 
Counties with small portions of Davidson and Rowan Counties. 

2. An igneous belt which lies to the west of the slate belt, and 
consisting of massive igneous plutonic rocks, extending across the 
State in a southwesterly direction, with a width of from 15 to 30 
miles, includes the greater portion of Guilford, Davidson, Rowan, 
Cabarrus and practically all of Mecklenburg Counties. The actual area 
of the auriferous portion, however, is scarcely more than 1,000 square 
miles. 

3. The King's Mountain belt occupies an area adjoining the 
igneous on the west, the rocks of which are crystaline shists and 
gneisses, and isolated bodies of siliceuos limestone. It includes the 
mines in Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba, Davie and Yadkin Counties. 



32 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The principal mining district of these belts is in the vicinity of 
Gold Hill, Rowan County. It is situated about 14 miles southeast of 
Salisbury in the southeast corner of Rowan County and extends into 
Cabarrus County on the south, and Stanley County on the east. The 
country rocks are chloritic and argillaceous schists, striking north 
25 degrees to 30 degrees east and dipping 75 degrees to 85 degrees 
northwest. A diabase dike cut the schists near the village of Gold 
Hill. The ore bodies consist of certain portions of bands in the 
schists that are impregnated with auriferous pyrite and of imperfectly 
conformable lenticular veins and stringers of quartz. There are 6 
well defined approximately parallel veins in this district known as the 
Randolph, Earnhardt, Honeycut, Standard, Trautman and McMakin. 

The principal work being done in this district for gold is by the 
Whitney Reduction Company who are operating at and near the old 
McMakin mine. They have developed their mine by three shafts, the 
deepest one being 575 feet with cross cuts between them. A well 
formed ore body has been blocked out that assays very favorably. In 
connection with their mining this company are developing the water 
power at the Narrows of the Yadkin and will erect their stamp-mill at 
this point. The Gold Hill Copper Co. expect to begin work at the 
Earnhardt mine during the coming year. The Union Copper Co. are 
mining principally for copper, but obtain more or less gold and silver 
as by-products. 

The Silver Hill mine located 10 miles southeast of Lexington and the 
Silver Valley, 5 miles northeast of the Silver Hill, are two mines that 
have attracted a great deal of attention on account of the apparent 
richnes of their ores. The country rock is chloritic schist striking 
north 35 degrees, east and dipping 57 degrees northwest, accompanied 
by an eruptive porphyrite. The ore is schist and quartz carrying a 
complex mixture of pyrite, galena, sphalarite (zinc blende) and chal- 
copyrite. The galena is rich in silver, and near the upper surface of 
the mines rich bunches of native silver were encountered. Some of the 
bunches of pyrite are very rich in gold, while others only carry a 
trace. The former of these mines has been worked to a depth of 660 
feet by numerous shafts and extensive levels. The Silver Valley has 
only been opened to a depth of 120 feet. 

In Montgomery one of the most noted mines is the Russell, which 
is about 3 miles northeast from Eldorado, and but a short distance from 
the Randolph County line. The country rocks are argillaceous slates 
both of soft and silicified types. In part at least these slates are sedi- 
mentary and have an available strike and dip. The ore beds consist 
of parallel belts in the slates impregnated with iron sulphurets (pyrite), 
and free gold together with some quartz stringers. The principal work 
at this mine consists of a big cut and open bed about 300 feet long 
by 150 feet wide and 60 feet deep. On the eastern edge of this cut is a 
shaft 150 feet deep from the bottom of which the ore has been stoped 
upward. 

Some of the other principal mines in this county are the Sam 
Christian, Appalachian (or Coggins), Morris Mountain, Riggon Hill, 
Steel, Saunders, Marratock, Beaver's Dam, and Buck Mountain. 








CHEROKEES NORTH CAROLINA INDIAN RESEKVA T l( ).n. 



I 
A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 33 

The Reed Mine in Cabarrus County is about eleven miles southeast 
of Concord, and is of interest as being the site of the first discovery 
of gold in North Carolina. In 1799, a 17 pound nugget was found and 
in 1803 one weighing 28 pounds. The placer deposits of the Reed 
Mine have been very vigorously worked in former years and a consider- 
able quantity of gold has been found. There are a number of promising 
gold properties in this county and among those which have been 
formerly worked are the Nugget, Rocky River, Buffalo, Phoenix, 
Furness, Tucker and Pioneer Mills Mines. 

Mecklenburg has been one of the most important and active counties 
in gold mining of any in this State. The mines are distributed over 
almost the entire county, with Charlotte as a center. The more im- 
portant mines are the Davidson Hill, (1 mile west of Charlotte), Saint 
Catherine, Rudisel and Clark, {2]4. miles west of Charlotte), Palmer, 
Howell and Parks, (1 mile northeast of Charlotte), Brawley, (4 miles 
west of Charlotte), Arlington, (6 miles west of Charlotte) , Capps, McGinn 
and Alexander, (8 miles northwest of Charlotte), Dunn, (7 miles north- 
west of Charlotte), Ferris and Ray, (Smiles southeast of Charlotte), 
and Surface Hill, (10 miles east of Charlotte). 

The Rudisel Mine, which is 1 mile south of Charlotte, is perhaps 
the best known. In the upper part of the mine the rock is a silicified 
chloritic and argillaceous slate. At a depth of 200 feet this gives place 
to a crystalline eruptive rock. The ore bed consists of two parallel 
veins, close together and separated by a slate which varies in thickness 
from 2 to 6 feet. The maximum depth to which the mine has been 
worked is 300 feet. The mine carries very rich but highly sulphureted 
ores, and thus far no attempt has been made at concentration or treat- 
ment of these sulphurets. 

In Gaston County the principal mines are the Oliver and Farrar, 
which are about 12 miles northwest of Charlotte, the former of which 
is reported to have been worked by some of the early German settlers 
before the Revolutionary War; the Duffie, McLean, Long Creek and 
King's Mountain (or Catawba). 

The King's Mountain (or Catawba) mine is situated about \}i 
miles south of King's Mountain, a station on the Southern Railway in 
the southwest corner of the county. The country rock is mica schist 
intercollated with lenticular layers of siliceous magnesian limestone. 
The ore beds are large lenticular chimneys or shoots of this limestone 
containing auriferous quartz and sulphurets. Five of these chimneys 
or lenses have been opened in this mine. The length of these lenses 
reach about 100 feet and in thickness they are about 20 feet, being 
separated from each other by the black graphitic slate. The mine has 
been worked to a depth of 320 feet. 

The principal mining that has been done in the South Mountain 
gold region has been the hydraulicing and sluicing of the extensive 
placer deposits which are found in Burke, McDowell and Rutherford 
Counties, and it has only been within the last few years that any 
attempt has been made to work the quartz veins. Many of the gold 
bearing quartz veins are too narrow to justify any deep mining, but 
there are some that have been found of a much larger scale that give 



34 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

promise of making profitable mines. The principal work now being 
done on these veins is a section 6 and 12 miles north of Morganton 
where two types of gold deposits have been encountered, one in which 
the gold occurs in the quartz veins and the other where it occurs in 
bends of the country rock either in the form of free gold or finely 
divided sulphurets. This district is perhaps attracting more attention 
than any other at the present time and has within the past two years 
furnished some splendid gold ore during the work of development. 
The principal mines in this South Mountain Valley are the Miller, 
Scott Hill, Pack's Hill and Baker Mines in Caldwell County; the Mill's 
property, Hancock, Hercules and Martha Mines in Burke County; Cain 
Creek, Brackettown, Huntsville and Vein in McDowell County, and 
the Golden Valley in Rutherford County. 

There has been a little gold mining in Cleveland County and in the 
vicinity of Columbus, Polk County. 

A custom smelter is being built a few miles south of Charlotte, 
which should make it possible for the reopening and development of 
many of the smaller gold properties in the State that are not able to 
support a smelter or mill of their own. 

COPPER. 

Copper ores have been found in considerable quantity at a number 
of localities, the principal ones being the Virgilina or Blue Wing dis- 
trict which extends across Person County into Virginia, the copper 
district of Gold Hill in Rowan County, and the Ore Knob Copper 
district of Ashe County. All the copper ore that is being mined is in 
the form of sulphides either chalcopyrite, the yellow copper ore, 
bornite, the variegated or peacock copper ore, and the chalcocite or gray 
copper ore. In opening up nearly all of these copper deposits the first 
ore encountered contained more or less malachite, the green carbonate 
of copper, and a little cuprite and tenorite, the two oxides of copper. 
Native copper has been found but very sparingly, some of the best 
specimens having been obtained from the Union Copper Mines at Gold 
Hill. In the Virgilina or Blue Wing district the largest and most 
extensively developed mine is the Holloway, which is 4 miles south- 
west of Virgilina, Halifax County, Virginia, and connected by a branch 
of the Southern Railway. Other mines of this district that are being 
worked are the Blue Wing, Morong, Copper World, Arringdale, Gillis, 
Yancey and Tingen. 

In the Gold Hill district the Union Copper Company has spent a 
million dollars or more in the development of their property and in 
the erection of a concentrating plant and smelter. The ore is a low 
grade chalcopyrite, which exists in quantity, and is found along certain 
lines in narrow zones in chloritic and argillaceous schists and in slates. 
These zones are impregnated with the sulphides, chalcopyrite. pyrite 
and galena, and they probably extend to considerable depths. Until 
the middle of 1901 no ore had been smelted from this mine, but during 
the latter part of the year the smelter has been put in operation and the 
mine is now a producer of copper matte. About 12 miles to the south 
of this mine is the Cruse Mine which is being prospected and developed. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 35 

The copper mines at Ore Knob and Elk Creek, Ashe County, are being 
extensively developed. 

The Blue Wing and Gold Hill Copper districts are established copper 
camps and are already producers of the metal and it is confidently ex- 
pected that the production of copper from them, will continually be 
increased. 

The Ore Knob district will also soon be added to the producing 
districts of the State. 

IRON. 

The iron ores are very widely distributed over the State and include 
magnetite (the magnetic oxide of iron), hematite (the red oxide), and 
limonite (the yellow oxide). Siderite or spathic iron occurs sparingly 
at a number of iron mines. 

On account of the low price of iron, many points have to be care- 
fully determined regarding the ore, as to whether it will make a pro- 
fitable mine; these are, its chemical composition, mechanical structure, 
proximity to a supply of fuel, flux and water, and relation of the cost to 
the market price. 

The first is by far the most important, for the first thing to 
determine is what percentage of iron the ore will carry, and how free 
it is from the injurious elements, sulphur, phosphorous, and titanium. 
There are a number of minerals that contain a high percentage of iron 
that will not make profitable iron ores; and thus a high percentage of 
iron in a mineral deposit does not necessarily mean a good iron ore. 

Many attempts have been made to use the titanic iron ores, but they 
have resulted in complete failure and loss. The titanic acid of the ore 
passes into the slag making it very difficult of fusion and 1 per cent, of 
titanic acid in an ore will condemn it. 

Sulphur is injurious in an ore for it cannot all be eliminated from 
the pig iron, and renders it red-short, that is brittle when hot; and 
phosphorous goes partially into the pig iron making it cold-short, that 
is brittle when cold. 

Nearly all of the iron ores in North Carolina are low in sulphur, 
while those carrying titanium are usually confined to the magnetic ores. 

The mechanical structure of the ore is also important for the value 
of the iron increases or decreases, according to the amount of gangue 
removed in mining the ore, and also the amount of cleaning that is 
necessary before the iron is ready for smelting, and the amount of 
foreign material that has to pass through the furnace. It is often of 
serious importance to determine whether it is cheaper to smelt the ore 
where is is mined or transport it to a furnace erected near the source 
of fuel and flux. 

The history of iron mining in North Carolina dates back to as early 
as 1729, when small shipments of iron were made to England. The ore 
first mined was probably the bog ores near the coast. Mining of iron 
almost kept pace with the settlement of the western portion of the 
State. The remains of the old workings are still visible almost every- 
where but they are no criterion either because they have been worked, 
that there is a quantity of ore or because they have been closed that 



36 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the ore gave out. They would all have to be examined to prove them 
one way or the other. 

Some of the principal iron localities are, the magnetite ores of 
Granville, Stokes, Surry, Catawba, Ashe and Mitchell Counties; the 
limonite ores of Chatham, Gaston and Cherokee Counties, and the 
hematite ores of Granville County. 

The iron ores are confined principally to the Piedmont Plateau and 
Mountain regions. Geologically the magnetites and hematites are con- 
fined almost exclusively to the crystalline rocks. Some limonites are 
also found in these rocks as well as in the Ocoee formation of Madison 
and Cherokee Counties. Limonite ores (bog iron ores) are also found 
in the more recent formations of the Coastal Plain region. 

The most noted iron mine in the State is the magnetic iron mine 
at Cranberry, Mitchell County, which is at the terminus of the East 
Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. The ore body con- 
sists of an immense lens of magnetite that has associated with it, 
hornblende, pyroxene, epidite, quartz, feldspar, calcite, garnet, zircon, 
allanite, serpentine, etc., in varying porportions. The ore is dis- 
tributed in irregular masses through the gangue and at times intimately 
associated with the same in thin bands. The thickness and extent of 
these bands are variable, from a few inches to more than fifty feet. 

MINOR ECONOMIC MINERALS. 

Of the minor economic minerals that occur in commercial quantity 
in the State, the most important are, corundum, mica, talc, monazite 
and kaolin, and they occur in as large quantity in North Carolina as in 
any other State. 

CORUNDUM. 

Corundum is a mineral that was formerly supposed to occur but 
sparingly in nature but is now known to be quite wide in its occurences. 

There are three names in constant use to designate its varieties: 
1. Sapphire, which includes all of those corundums that are transparent 
to semi-transparent, of whatever color. 2. Corundum, including the 
translucent to the opaque, of all colors. 3. Emery, which is a mechani- 
cal admixture of corundum and magnetite or hematite. The last two 
varieties are those used in the arts for abrasive purposes; the emery 
being used in very much larger quantities than the corundum. It is 
of course the presence of corundum in the emery that gives it its 
abrasive qualities and makes it of commercial value, and the abrasive 
efficiency of the emeries will vary according to the percentage of 
corundum. 

Any corundum that is transparent is brought under the head of 
sapphires, although many of these have distinct names in the gem trade. 
These are taken up under the head of gems. 

The corundum gem or sapphire localities are usually distinct from 
those of corundum, although some very handsome gems have been 
found in some of the mines where corundum was mined for abrasive 
purposes, notably the Corundum Hill, at Cullasaja, Macon County. 

Corundum as it is mined for abrasive purposes, occurs as sand, 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 37 

crystal or gravel and block corundum, sometimes all three types being 
found in the same deposit. The sand corundum consists of small 
grains, crystals or fragments of mineral scattered through the vein. 
The crystal corundum consists of crystals up to three inches in length. 
Often these crystals have parting planes so thoroughly developed, that 
they often cause the corundum in crushing to break up into regular 
rhombohedrons, this continuing even to the finer sizes, which causes 
the grains to break down when in use. This continued regular 
breaking destroys the cutting efficiency, which is dependent on its 
irregular fracture, which produces the best cutting edge. 

The block corundum often occurs in masses from ten to a thousand 
pounds in weight of almost pure corundum. Then again it occurs in 
large masses intimately associated with hornblende, feldspar, etc., 
making a very tough and difficult rock to work. Often the only way 
to break the masses is to build fires over them and then to suddenly 
cool them by pouring water upon them. The parting planes are at 
times very noticeable in the block corundum and are detrimental to 
the commercial product in the same way as to the crystal corundum. 

There is a constant demand for corundum, more at the present 
time than is being supplied, and this has caused more thorough pros- 
pecting to be undertaken. 

Although there are over sixty mines or localities known where co- 
rundum occurs, which extend over a considerable portion of the west- 
ern part of the State, it is at present only known to occur in commer- 
cial quantity in the four counties. Clay, Macon, Jackson and Transyl- 
vania. 

These corundum deposits are unquestionably of great economic im- 
portance to the State and considering the energy with which the in- 
dustry is now being pushed it will be but a short time when the co- 
rundum will be bringing a considerable income into the State. 

The principal mines are the Corundum Hill, at Cullasaja, and Min- 
cey at Ellijay, Macon County; the Buck Creek or Cullakeenee, at Buck 
Creek, and the Scaly Mountain, in Clay County; the Sapphire, Socra- 
tes, Bad Creek and Whitewater, near Sapphire, and the Caney Creek, 
in Jackson County; and the Burnt Rock and Brockton in Transylvania 
County. 

GARNET. 

This mineral has also been mined in the State for abrasive pur- 
poses, the principal mines being the Sugar Loaf, near Hall, and the 
Pressley, near Speedwell, Jackson County. 

MICA. 

It is the varieties of mica known as muscovite and phlogopite to 
which all the commercial mica belongs; and in North Carolina it is 
the muscovite mica that is commonly found. It is very widely distri- 
buted, being a component of many of the crystalline and sedimentary 
rocks. When, however, it occurs in blocks or masses which can be 
split into sheets an inch or more in diameter, it has a commercial 
value, which increases with the size of the cut sheets that vary from 



38 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

1x1 to 8x10 inches. The mica which is not capable of being cut into 
sheets is ground to a flour and used in the manufacture of wall papers; 
for lubricants, etc. 

The deposits of commercial mica occur for the most part in peg- 
matitic dikes or veins, which are found in hornblende and micaceous 
gneisses and schists. These dikes or veins, which vary in thickness 
from a few inches to several hundred feet, are often very irregular 
and have arms or "veinlets" branching off from them in many direc- 
tions. 

In character these pegmatitic dikes are very similar to a granite 
and have sometimes been called "coarse granite," and if we could con- 
ceive of the constituents of the granite being magnified a hundred 
times or more, we would have an appearance that was very similar to 
a pegmatitic dike. These dikes consist of quartz, feldspar and musco- 
vite mica in varying proportions. In some portions of the dike or 
vein the quartz and feldspar are nearly equally distributed, while in 
others some time one and again the other will predominate. Feldspar 
has been observed that has crystalized out in masses of more than a 
ton in weight, and well developed crystals of this mineral have been 
observed that were three by one and one-half feet. 

In appearance these mica veins are also very variable. Sometimes 
the feldspar, quartz and mica have separated out in rather small masses 
while at others they are separated out on a much larger scale. As far 
as I have observed the occurrence of mica, the veins that yield the 
best commercial mica are those in which the three minerals have 
crystalized out in the larger masses. Where the feldspar and quartz 
are rather small the mica is apt to be small and often is of poor quality. 

All the mica veins do not carry commercial mica, and usually the 
dikes two feet and less in width are barren of mica that would have a 
commercial value. Still, on the other hand, all the wide veins do not 
carry a mica that is of commercial value, for in some the mica is in 
such small crystals and blocks that sheets can not be cut of over an 
inch or two in diameter. 

Regarding the mica itself as it occurs in the vein, it is usually in 
rough crystals called blocks or books, distributed sometimes nearly 
evenly in the vein and at others nearer the contact of the vein with 
the country rock. These blocks have at times been converted into 
what is called ruled mica, the mica being cut into narrow strips 
whose edges are parallel to the intersection of the prism and base edges 
of the crystal. 

The principal deposits of the mineral are in Mitchell, Yancey, 
Jackson, Haywood and Macon Counties, the two former having the 
larger proportion. In Mitchell County there are 66 and in Yancey, 45 
mines. 

These mines have been worked for the most part by crude methods 
but even under these conditions, the Clarrissa, Sinkhole, Hawk, Double 
Head, Spread Eagle, Drake and Cloudland mines in Mitchell County; 
the Ray mine in Yancey County, the Big Ridge and Shiny mines in 
Haywood County; and the lola, Burningtown and Raby mines in Macon 
County have produced collectively, considerably more than a million 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 39 

dollars worth of mica, It is not unreasonable to suppose that under 
more favorable conditions the supply will be greater than what it has 
been in the past. Many of these old mines are being reopened and 
worked with considerable success. North Carolina mica is still, as it 
always has been, superior to any other in the world, 

TALC AND PYROPHYLLITE. 

The demand for talc and the similar mineral pyrophyllite is con- 
stantly increasing and this is causing a considerable interest to be 
centered in the North Carolina deposits of Swain and Cherokee, and 
Moore and Chatham Counties. 

The properties of these minerals that make them suitable for the 
purposes for which they are to be used, are their extreme softness 
(being among the softest minerals known); their purity or freedom 
from grit; their stability; and their smooth, slippery touch. 

When the talc is of sufficient compactness, it is sawed into pieces 
of various shapes and sizes, and into different styles of pencils. The 
larger proportion of the talc and pyrophyllite mined is ground to a 
flour, similarly as mica, and used in the manufacture of talcum pow- 
der, in wall paper, as the basis of many lubricants, in paper, and in 
the manufacture of some of the cheaper varieties of soap. 

The talc deposits of Swain and Cherokee Counties are found in 
connection with the marble formation of this section of the State. 
What was formerly supposed to be a regular vein of the talc was prob- 
ably a series of pockets of this mineral of varying thickness, lying 
for the most part directly between the marble and the quartzite, 
although at times they are entirely enclosed by the marble. None, 
however, have been observed that were enclosed by the quartzite. 
These pockets, which resemble in shape flattened lenses, always follow 
the dip of the strata in which they occur, and are therefore encountered 
in all positions from horizontal to vertical. 

The pyrophyllite deposits are located in the extreme north central 
portion of Moore and the south central part of Chatham Counties, and 
can be traced across the country for a distance of eight miles. The 
principal mining that has been done is near the boundary between the 
two counties in the vicinity of Glendon, Moore County. They are 
associated with the slates of this region but are not in direct contact 
with them, being usually separated by bands of siliceous and iron 
breccia, which are probably 100 to 150 feet thick. These bands of 
breccia contain more or less pyrophyllite, and they merge into a 
strata of pyrophyllite schist. Between this and the massive beds of 
pure pyrophyllite there are very often small seams of quartz and larger 
lenticular quartz masses several feet thick. 

The beds of this mineral are not entirely of commercial quality, 
but there are bands of the pyrophyllite that are highly siliceous along- 
side of those that are entirely free from grit. Although the general 
appearance of the waste and good material is very similar, they can 
readily be distinguished by the touch, and can readily be kept separate 
by hand cobbing. 

The principal talc mines in the State are the Hewitt and Nantah- 



40 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

halla in Swain County and the Hillyer in Cherokee County. Of the 
pyrophyllite mines the Snow, Womble and Rogers Creek are the largest 
and are all in Chatham County. 

MONAZITE. 

Monazite is one of the minerals that was formerly considered to be 
rare, but when a commercial use arose for it, there were many places 
found where it occurred in quantity. The first localities where it was 
proved to be in commercial quantity were in North Carolina. There 
is now an active industry in the mining of this mineral in Burke, 
Cleveland, Rutherford and McDowell Counties. The value of this 
mineral is in the percentage of thoria (1 to 10 per cent.) that it con- 
tains. This is extracted from the mineral and used in the manufacture 
of the cylindrical hoods for the Walsbach incandescent gas lights. 

Monazite is an accessory constituent of eruptive granitic rocks, and 
gneisses derived from them. By the alteration and erosion of these rocks 
the monazite, which is a heavy mineral, has been deposited in the gravels 
of the streams near where they originated and have formed beds of 
gravel or sand. It is these beds of monazite sands that have been ex- 
tensively worked for this mineral. Among the associated minerals 
found with the monazite in these sands are: zircon, xenotine,fergusonite, 
rutile, ilmenite, magnetite and garnet. 

The best sands, that is those containing the largest percentage of 
thoria, are found in Burke and Cleveland Counties. Some of especially 
high grade have also been reported from McDowell County. One 
company is now working the partially decomposed granitic rock that 
carries the monazite. The rock contains but a small percentage of 
this mineral and it will be interesting to note whether it can be pro- 
fitably recovered. 

This mineral at times occurs in small but beautiful and well de- 
veloped crystals, some of which have been found in Alexander County, 
at the Deake Mine, Mitchell County; and in the Cowee Valley, Macon 
County. 

GEM MINERALS. 

There are many of the gem minerals that have been found in North 
Carolina, and deposits of some have been found in sufficient quantity 
to become regular producers. There has been but little systematic 
search for these minerals, but accidental discoveries have been made 
in various places, that have in some cases led to the opening of good 
deposits of gem material. There have been a number of companies 
organized who are mining in the State exclusively for gems. The 
principal gem localities are in Macon, Yancey, Mitchell, McDowell, 
Burke, Alexander and Iredell Counties. 



DIAMOND. 



ri 



In North Carolina diamonds have been repeatedly found; and there 
are now ten authentic ones whose occurrences are fully established. 
Besides these three others have been reported. They have been 



^t***^- 




^:.4^: 



-■*'■* *«'.A 



\ 




I 1^'^ 



Is # 








STONE MOUNTAIN' — WILKES COUNTY. 










MT. AIRY GRANITE QU 



,ARRY_CAPE FEAR & YADKIN VALLEY RAILROAD. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 4I 

distributed over a wide area in the counties of McDowell, Burke, Ru- 
therford, Lincoln, Mecklenburg and Franklin. With the exception of 
Franklin all of these counties are in the eastern drainage basin of the 
Blue Ridge. Two have been on Brindletown Creek, Burke County; one 
at the Twitty mine in Rutherford County; one near Cottage Home, in 
Lincoln County; two on Tod Branch, Mecklenburg County; three from 
Muddy Creek, McDowell County; and one from the Portis mine, Frank- 
lin County. Besides these, one is reported from Richmond County, 
and another from Rutherford County. The lai'gest diamond weighing 
4 1-3 carats, was found in 1886 on the farm of Albert Bright in Dysart- 
ville. . 

CORUNDUM GEMS, RUBY AND SAPPHIRE. 

There is no State or country that excels North Carolina in its vari- 
ety of corundum gems. It is found red, ruby-red, sapphire-blue, dark 
blue, various shades of green, violet and purplish, rose, pink, brown, 
yellow, gray and colorless. The corundum gems are determined by 
the color and there are at the present time nine varieties that are com- 
monly recognized by the lapidaries. In the arts these are usually pre- 
fixed by the word "oriental" to distinguish them from other gems of 
the same name, but whose mineral composition and character are en- 
tirely different. These varieties are as follows: 

Oriental or true Ruby — Red of various shades. 

Oriental Sapphire — Blue of various shades. 

Pink Sapphire — Rose or Pink. 

White Sapphire, Diamond Spar — Colorless. 

Opaline, Girasol, Hyaline — Pale blue or bluish white. 

Oriental Amethyst — Purple. 

Oriental Emerald — Green. 

Oriental Topaz — Yellow. 

Star Sapphire, Chattayant, Asteria — Opalescent. 

The locality that has furnished the greatest variety of these gems 
is the Corundum Hill mine, at Cullasaja, Macon County. Sapphires 
have also been found at the Grimshaw mine, Montvale, Transylvania 
County, and at Sapphire, Jackson County. 

The North Carolina locality for corundum gems which is attract- 
ing considerable attention at the present time is a tract of land in 
Macon County, between the Caler fork of the Cowee Creek and Mason 
Branch, two tributaries of the Little Tennessee River. 

Ruby corundum of exquisite color and transparency has been found 
in the gravel deposits of the Caler fork of Cowee Creek. Although 
but a very small percentage of the corundum found in the gravel was 
transparent, nearly all was of the ruby color. Beautiful rubies of a 
rich pigeon blood red color have been found here, that could not be 
told from the Burmah stones. The best stone that has thus far been 
found is valued at $1,500. Many smaller gems have been obtained that 
were perfectly transparent and of good color. 

RHODOLITE. 

Associated with these rubies is the gem Rhodolite, one of the gar- 
net group. It has a variety of shades of color, which for the most 



42 A SKETCH oF NORTH CAROLINA. 

part are similar to the delicate rose-like tinge of the rhododendron. 
Then again its remarkable brilliancy vies with that of the diamond. 
Most of the varieties of garnet are only beautiful by transmitted light 
and otherwise exhibit dark shades of color, but rhodolite gives most 
striking effects of beautiful and varied coloring by reflected light. 
When first discovered the rhodolite was mistaken by many jewelers as 
a variety of ruby, and not until they had tested it would they believe 
otherwise. The rhodolite has only been found in North Carolina, and 
in a very limited area, which includes the gravels of the streams that 
rise on Mason Mountain, Macon County. 

GARNET GEMS. 

Besides the rhodolite referred to above, the almandite and pyrope 
varieties of garnet have been found extensively in many sections of the 
State. Good gems of these varieties have been found in Macon, Alex- 
ander, Yancey, Mitchell, McDowell, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba and 
Lincoln Counties, but the best colored gems have been obtained from 
the first two counties. At many of the mica mines, transparent garnet 
crystals are found flattened out between the folias of the mica. Be- 
sides as gems, garnet is widely distributed in the State, and is a con- 
stant constituent of many of the micaceous and other igneous rocks, 
and as has been stated above occurs at times in sufficient quantity to be 
of value for abrasive purposes. 

BERYL. 

This is a mineral that varies in color from emerald green, pale 
green and sea green to yellow, light blue and white. The emerald 
green is due to the presence of a little chromium and is a variety that 
is highly prized as a gem when clear and free from flaws. The beryl 
emerald is the emerald that is commonly sold at the present time, the 
oriental or true emerald (the green variety of sapphire) being one of 
the rarest of the gem stones. North Carolina has furnished some very 
handsome beryls of emerald green color some of which have been cut 
into fine stones. The most noted locality is near Hiddenite, Alexander 
County, North Carolina. The first emeralds that were obtained in 
this locality were found in the soil and it was not until 1881 when the 
Emerald and Hiddenite Mining Company was organized that any direct 
mining was undertaken. As the deposits were followed downward 
through the soil the unaltered rock was encountered and as the work 
was extended into this their exact occurrence was seen. They occur 
in pockets of quartz associated with rutile, hiddenite, quartz, musco- 
vite, dolomite, pyrite, garnets, etc. , all of which are well crystalized. The 
rutile found here is the finest that has been observed in any locality in 
the world. It is a mineral of a nearly black color by reflected light 
but a deep red in thin splinters by transmitted light and is often used 
for cutting into stones for seal rings as a substitute for the black 
diamond which it somewhat resembles when cut. The quartz asso- 
ciated with the emeralds is exceptionally well crystallized and has 
furnished some of the most modified crystals ever found. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 43 

The largest emerald crystal found here was a very perfect specimen 
of a fine but somewhat light green color, which was doubly terminated 
and weighed 8^ ounces. One of the largest stones cut weighed 
4 23-32 carats and was of a somewhat light green color. 

On Crabtree Mountain between Brush and Crabtree Creeks, Mitchell 
County, emerald beryl occurs in a pegmatitic vein. No very large 
crystals have as yet been found at this locality, but some have been 
taken out that have cut small gems of a deep emerald color. Matrix 
specimens of emerald with feldspar, tourmaline or quartz are being cut 
which make handsome stones. 

The aquamarine variety of beryl is found very commonly in many 
of the pegmatitic dikes that have been worked for mica. The most 
important of these are in the vicinity of Spruce Pine, Mitchell County, 
at the Ray Mine, Yancey County, and the Littlefield Mine, Macon 
County, where transparent aquamarine beryls have been found very 
abundantly that have cut many beautiful gems. Besides the aquamarine, 
blue beryl has been found in fine crystals in the mines near Spruce 
Pine, of Mitchell County, as has also the yellow or golden beryl. The 
Wiserman property near Spruce Pine, Mitchell County, is a promising 
field for aquamarine and has furnished pieces up to 20 carats in 
weight. 

HIDDENITE. 

This gem is a variety of mineral spodumene, a lithium aluminum 
silicate, and is of a deep green color due probably to the presence 
of minute quantities of chromium. Hiddenite has only been found at 
the emerald locality at Hiddenite, Alexander County. While some of 
the crystals have a uniform green color they are generally yellow at 
one end and graduate through yellowish green to a green at the other. 
The hardness of the hiddenite is below that of quartz, being but 6.5 to 7, 
but on account of its rarity, color, and very brilliant lustre it ranks at 
the present time as one of the most expensive gems. The finest 
crystal that was obtained from this locality measured 2 3-5 inches by 
yi inch by 34' inch with one end of a very fine green color and would 
probably afford a gem, if cut, which would weigh about 5>< carats. 

QUARTZ. 

This mineral is very varied in its occurrence and is found in many 
colors and forms, furnishing many varieties of gems. The more im- 
portant of these gem varieties are given below: 

Rock crystal has been found in many beautiful transparent crystals 
and masses from White Plain, Surry County, Hiddenite, Alexander 
County, and Chestnut Hill, Ashe County. 

Smoky quartz or Cairngorm stone is found in quantity in Burke and 
Alexander Counties. 

Amethysts of a beautiful deep purple color have been found at a 
number of localities in the State, principally in Macon, Lincoln and 
Catawba Counties. 

Sagenite or Venus Hairstone is crystal quartz that is penetrated with 



44 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

a net work of acicular crystals of rutile. Some of the most beautiful 
specimens of this rutilated quartz have been found in Alexander and 
Iredell Counties. It has also been found in Catawba, Burke and Ran- 
dolph Counties. 

Citrine or Spanish topaz is a yellow variety of quartz that has been 
found in Burke and adjoining counties, but seldom of a rich deep 
color. 

Other quartz gems that have been found in North Carolina are 
chrysoprase, from Macon County, rose quartz, morion, from Alexander 
County, aventurine, from Iredell County, chalcedony, agate, jasper and 
carnelian. 

OTHER GEM MINERALS. 

The feldspar that is a component part of the pegmatitic dikes of 
Mitchell and Yancey Counties is occasionally met with that is of good 
quality for cutting into moonstones and sunstones. 

Beautiful crystals of rutile are obtained from Alexander County 
that have been cut into gems that resemble black diamonds. 

Fine blue crystals of cyanite are obtained in Mitchell and Gaston 
Counties, and near Spruce Pine, Mitchell County, some of the finest 
grass green cyanite, that are known, have been discovered. 

Staurolite, zircon, spinel, peridot, lazulite, serpentine, malachite 
and tourmaline are among the other gem minerals that have been occa- 
sionally obtained in the State. 

KAOLIN. 

Kaolin has been found in a number of widely separated localities in 
North Carolina, especially in the mountain region, in the form of ex- 
tensive veins or dikes which were formerly composed largely of feldspar, 
but which have decayed from the action of atmospheric agencies and 
formed the mineral kaolin. Associated with the kaolin there is always 
some quartz and mica which were original constituents of the dike or 
vein. The best kaolin deposits are those in which the feldspar formerly 
largely predominated in the dike. These dikes vary considerably in 
size, ranging from a few inches to several hundred feet in thickness 
and up to several hundred yards in length. They are usually parallel 
to the schistosity of the crystalline rocks. At the present time kaolin 
is being mined at a number of places in the vicinity of Webster, 
Sylva and Addie, Jackson County, and in the vicinity of Bryson City, 
Swain County. A deposit has also recently been opened up near 
Bosticks Mills, Richmond County. The kaolin deposit that has been 
worked the most extensively is the one near Webster and known as the 
Harris Mine. This has been worked to a depth of 120 feet below which 
point the material becomes harder and does not permit of cheap mining 
operations. The dike in which this mine occurs has a thickness of 
nearly 200 feet and has been traced across the country for a distance 
of more than half a mile. Similar, but smaller, kaolin dikes are common 
throughout the mountain and Piedmont Plateau regions, but in order 
to be successfully worked they must be near railroad facilities. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 45 



OTHER CLAYS. 

There are many deposits of clay varying in shades of color from 
white looking kaolin to purplish and yellowish brown which have re- 
sulted from the decay of granite and other feldspathic rocks in the 
regions where they are found. These clays vary in composition both with 
the character of the rocks in which they have been found and with the 
extent to which the materials and the original rocks have been separated 
by the sorting action of water in transporting materials from one place 
to another. They are usually a reddish or yellowish color owing to the 
presence of iron oxide, and as this oxide becomes less the clays become 
lighter in color and those that are practically free from iron oxide are 
white. There are but few regions throughout the State but that con- 
tain more or less clay suitable for the manufacture of brick needed for 
the construction of houses or chimneys. There are also a number of 
deposits that are capable of being utilized for the manufacture of fire 
brick such as the clay beds at Pomona, Guilford County, near Grover, 
Gaston County, and near Emma, Buncombe County. 

With the very extensive deposits of good clay that are known to 
exist in the State, there is a splendid opportunity for the investment 
of capital for the manufacture of fire brick, fancy and pressed brick, 
and of tile, drain and sewer pipes. 

GRAPHITE. 

Graphite is found in small quantities widely distributed in North 
Carolina in crystalline slates and gneisses. There are a number of 
localities where a graphitic schist is found which contains portions 
that are of a more or less impure slaty and earthy variety. 

The most extensive as well as perhaps the best known graphite de- 
posits in the State are in Wake County, extending in a northeast and 
southwest direction for a distance of 16 or 18 miles and passing 2^ 
miles west of Raleigh. These have been worked to a limited extent 
for a number of years and offer very promising results for investment. 

Similar deposits of graphite are found in McDowell County which 
can be traced for a distance of about 3 to 4 miles in a northeast- 
southwest direction from Brush Mountain on the west to Fork Moun- 
tain on the east. 

Another promising deposit of a very pure crystalline graphite oc- 
curs in Wilkes County about 12 miles from North Wilkesboro, which 
is now being developed. 

COAL. 

The coal deposits of North Carolina are confined to the areas or 
belts of Triasic sandstone. The larger of these is known as the Deep 
River belt which in a general way extends along a trough from Oxford 
in Granville County, southwestward across the State with a width 
near its central point of some 15 miles, but narrowing very considera- 
bly at each end. The coal of the Deep River belt is limited to a re- 
gion extending from the southern part of Chatham County 10 or 12 
miles into the northern part of Moore County. There are five seams 



46 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of coal reported in this belt which are separated by black shales and 
slates, black-band iron ore and fire-clay. These seams of coal vary 
from 6 inches to 4 feet in thickness, but with a probable workable 
average of 22 to 24 inches. While this cannot be called an extensive 
coal field, it does offer possibilities of remunerative coal mining. The 
principal mines being operated are the Cumnock, by the Chatham 
Coal and Coke Co. , located at Cumnock, Chatham County. Other 
properties that are at the present time being prospected and developed 
are in the vicinity of Eaglesprings, Moore County. 

The Dan River belt, which has a width of from 2 to 4 miles, and 
a length of nearly 30 miles in a northwest-southeast direction, does 
not offer as promising possibilities for coal mining as the Deep River 
belt. The most promising outcrops for coal are those along the line 
near the wagon road from Walnut Cove to Germanton. The coal 
bearing seam at this point is said to have a thickness of from 2 to 7 
feet. 

BUILDING STONES. 

North Carolina is exceptionally well provided with building stones 
which are to be found in abundance in the middle and western coun- 
ties. 

Sandstones are found in the Triasic sandstone formation that forms 
one belt of rock in Anson, Moore, Chatham, Wake, Durham and Orange 
Counties, and another in Stokes and Rockingham. The principal 
points at which brown stone or sandstone is being quarried are Sanford 
and Carthage, in Moore County; Cumnock, Chatham County; and near 
Durham, Durham County. In the western part of Wake County there 
is good desirable sandstone that is accessible to the railroad. In An- 
son, in the vicinity of Wadesboro, there are a number of good deposits 
of sandstones, as at the Frank Hammond, Linehan and Wadesboro 
quarries. Moore County has a number of localities where a good quality 
of sandstone can be obtained, one is about one mile northwest and 
another (the Rockle and Lawrence quarry) one mile southwest of San- 
ford. The sandstone deposits of Chatham County are in the vicinity 
of Gulf and Cumnock (Egypt) and there are a number of localities 
that offer favorable opportunities for quarrying. The sandstone de- 
posits of Durham County are a few miles north and east of the City of 
Durham. There are also good deposits in the vicinity of Brassfield in 
the southwestern corner of the county. 

Concerning the granites, only a brief notice can be given to the 
more important quarries and places. Near the City of Raleign, Wake 
County, there are a number of quarries that have furnished a hard, 
tough, fine grained gray gneiss. At Wyatt a pink granite is found, 
and near Rolesville a gray granite occurs abundantly, Twelve miles 
west of Springhope, Nash County, there are extensive beds of gray 
biotite granite of medium grain. In the vicinity of Oxford, Gran- 
ville County, and Warren Plains, Warren County, a fine light gray 
granite is to be found that works well. At Greystone, Vance County, a 
fine grained gray granite is being quarried. A very pretty mottled 
porphyritic granite cccurs near Lilesville, Anson County. A few miles 




CUMNOCK COM. MIXE^ 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 47 

south of Wilson, Wilson County, there are considerable beds of coarse, 
red, feldspathic granite, which takes a good polish, closely resembling 
red Scotch granite. 

Building stones are abundant in the higher portions of the Pied- 
mont Plateau region. The more important quarries are in the vicinity 
of Dunn Mountain, Rowan County, and 4 to 5 miles east of Salisbury, 
at Concord, Cabarrus County, Mooresville, Iredell County, and Mt. 
Airy, Surry County. 

The Dunn Mountain region is an exceedingly valuable and exten- 
sive granite area and is now being very extensively worked by a num- 
ber of companies. The Mt. Airy quarries are perhaps the best known 
of any quarries in the State and have been the most extensively 
worked. The stone is a nearly white granite of uniform grain and 
texture. In Davie County there is a very unique but beautiful stone, 
called "obicular granite" that is found at Coolomee. 

In the mountain region the principal quarrying is done at Balfour, 
Henderson County. 

Marble occurs very extensively in Swain and Cherokee Counties and 
is being quarried at Kinsey in the latter county. Very promising de- 
posits are at Hewitts and Nantahala, Swain County, and near Andrews, 
Cherokee County. The former of these is well located for quarrying. 

Slate of good quality is found in the vicinity of Egypt, Pittsboro, 
Goldston, Chatham County, and near Albemarle, Stanley County. 

There are many good stone deposits awaiting development that will 
make good profitable propositions. 



THE WATER-POWER OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Its Value as a Source of Power and as a Factor in 
THE Prosperity of the State. 



IN any presentation of the State of North Carolina as a field of pro- 
fitable investment, or in the enumeration of its natural resources and 

in the consideration of the wealth and prosperity into which these are 
capable of being transformed by a passage through the mill and the 
woi'kshop, the water-powers of the State should receive the attention 
which they so richly merit from their number and magnitude. As a 
source of present wealth and as a guarantee of the future prosperity 
which will follow their more general recognition and use, as the State 
advances in the knowledge that its great future lies rather in the pro- 
duction of the finished articles of commerce than in the raw materials 
of which these are composed, the water-powers may be considered as 
first in importance among its resources. 

Nature has lavishly bestowed mineral and timber wealth, and a 
generous and fertile soil, but these things have been granted 
with a lavish hand to other favored regions, while North Caro- 
lina stands alone among the States of the South in the number and 



48 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

extent of the valuable water-powers to be found within its borders, and 
with the exception of Maine, stands possibly foremost among the States 
bordering on the Atlantic Ocean and on the Gulf of Mexico, when all 
affecting conditions are considered, such as fall, volume of flow, ease 
and cheapness of development, proximity to the raw materials, and the 
presence of localities where an ample supply of cheap power is one of 
the greatest present needs, and which alone operates as a deterrent to 
the establishment of many small industries, which once begun would 
speedily grow to greater ones, each such increase being reflected in an 
added prosperity in the community. 

That North Carolina should stand out pre-eminent in this respect 
ceases to be a matter of surprise when its geographic location, its cli- 
mate and its topographic features are brought into consideration, it is 
rather a matter of wonder that the State has so long escaped the recog- 
nition in this respect which is its just due. That in the past it has 
escaped such is due to the habits and characteristics of its people, who 
have devoted themselves to the pursuits of agriculture rather than to 
those of manufacture, contenting themselves with exporting the raw 
materials and with the proceeds purchasing such articles as were neces- 
sary for their well-being and comfort, even though the cataract has 
been thundering down at their very doors, dissipating in foam the 
power of a thousand horses and clamoring to be harnessed and put 
to use in the service of mankind. For an agricultural population, 
large towns are not a possibility, and in the absence of such there is 
no market for power in quantity, and lacking the examples in the way 
of small manufacturing operations so furnished, the possibility of such 
small beginnings has not been conceived until the last few years. 

Before proceeding further in this connection it will be well to con- 
sider those features of climate and surface development which have 
tended to produce the multitude of water-powers which are to be found 
on almost all of the rivers of North Carolina. In the production of a 
water-power two things are necessary, viz: a certain volume of water 
flowing regularly in a stream, and a fall, either natural or artificial, 
over which this water passes, and by its weight, may be made to drive 
machinery suitably arranged for the purpose. 

It is an obvious fact that all the water flowing at any time in any 
stream must have been derived from the rainfall somewhere within the 
drainage basin of the stream, and this rain need not of necessity have 
fallen during the last few days or weeks, but may have fallen months 
before, percolated into the soil, sunk to an impervious stratum and 
flowed along this for many miles, finally reaching the stream, to be 
carried by it to the ocean and there re-evaporated by solar action to 
go the same round again. The amount of the annual rainfall on the 
basin of any stream is therefore an important factor in the value of 
the stream for power purposes, as is also the character of the soils of 
the are^ drained by it. Where the soil is deep and pervious, permit- 
ting the absorption of a large proportion of the rain which falls on it, 
holding it back from the stream in time of floods and giving it out 
slowly in time of drought, then such a stream will have a more con- 
stant and uniform flow than would be the case if the character of the 



^-'"^'^/lO'^'l^^ 



> '', '-. 




WATER POWER, TAR RIVER — ROCKY MOUNT. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 49 

soils were such as to shed with rapidity the greater part of the water 
falling thereon into the streams draining the area. Where the drain- 
age basin of a river is of this class the stream is flashy in nature, sub- 
ject to violent floods and periods of very low flow, and its value as a 
source of water-power is greatly diminished. 

The distribution of the rainfall throughout the months and seasons 
is also of great importance, as may be easily seen from the following 
considerations. None of the water which falls in the form of rain on 
the basin of any stream is lost, although no stream carries back to the 
sea an amount of water equal to that which has fallen as rain on its 
basin, for the plant life requires a great part, the sun evaporates 
another large portion from the soil and from the surface of the stream, 
another smaller portion goes to fill the deep-seated reservoirs of the soil, 
if such have been emptied by previous drought, and it is only after all 
these needs have been supplied that the surplus water flows into the 
stream. 

The demands of plant life and of evaporation are greatest in 
amount at the same period of the year, that is, when the sun is the 
hottest and vegetation makes its greatest growth, and if this time of 
greatest demand for water is the time when the supply is a maximum, 
then the stream will be able to carry a greater volume of water 
than would find its way into it if the conditions were reversed and the 
time of least rainfall came at a time when the demands of plant life 
and of evaporation were the greatest. 

For purposes of description of the climate and topography of North 
Carolina, the State may be conveniently divided into three sections or 
regions, each "differentiated from the other by certain well-marked 
peculiarities. These regions are known as the Coastal Plain, the 
Piedmont Plateau and the Appalachian Mountain Region, and from 
the great extent of the State and the consequent great variation in 
climate and physical features it will be necessary to enter on a brief 
description of each of these regions. 

THE COASTAL PLAIN REGION. 

This region has been built up in comparatively recent geologic 
time of unconsolidated sands, clays, gravels, etc. , resting on the west 
on the sloping, rocky surface of the hill country — the eastern margin 
of the Piedmont Plateau. This contact between the two regions is one 
of the most clearly defined of natural boundaries, and is known 
geographically and industrially as the "fall-line," along which is 
located, at the head of navigation on the more important streams, a 
number of manufacturing cities and towns, such as Richmond, Peters- 
burg, Weldon, Columbia, Augusta and others. 

On the seaward side of this fall-line, or fall-line zone as it might 
more properly be designated, are found the sluggish navigable rivers 
which make their way southeasterly across the coastal plain region in 
tortuous and unstable channels. From its formation this area is un- 
favorable to the development of water-power over the greater part of 
its area, and in fact none worthy of the name is found within its 
borders, with the single exception of that to be found on the streams 



50 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

of what may be called the ' ' sand hill country, ' ' which is found along the 
western edge of the coastal plain, where the hills and ridges are more 
numerous and irregular and rise to elevations of from 300 to 500 feet 
above sea level. In this region the streams are of small size, but on 
some of them powers out of all proportion to the drainage area have 
been developed and the power used in the operation of a considerable 
number of cotton mills. All such powers, however, are now in use and 
we may therefore pass over this region without further consideration. 

THE PIEDMONT PLATEAU REGION. 

This region lays between the coastal plain and the mountains from 
New Jersey to Alabama, and exhibits a great diversity of character- 
istics, though there are many features common to the region. Along 
the eastern margin the hills are no steeper and rise no higher than 
those of the adjacent coastal plain, and this is especially true as where 
in the southern half of North Carolina this plateau includes on the east 
a narrow belt of red sandstone which has been in places more rapidly 
eroded by atmospheric agencies than have the sand hills to the east of 
the fall-line. As a rule, however, the hard crystalline rocks and red 
soil of the Piedmont Plateau are to be found at the fall-line, and ex- 
hibit there the undulating surface characteristic of the red hill country, 
the surface elevation near the margin ranging from 300 to 600 feet. 
The eastern half of the region, taken as a whole, has an average eleva- 
tion of about 750 feet, while the western half will average about 1,200 
feet. 

Toward the western margin the hills rise higher until they may be 
fairly considered as mountains. The soils, which for the most part 
have been formed by the decomposition of rock in place, are generally 
gravelly, sandy and deep in the granitic areas, and more clayey and 
shallow in the slate belts. 

The average southeasterly slope of this region is about three and a 
half feet to the mile, but the possibility of developing water-power 
on the several streams depends less on this average slope than upon the 
concentration of the fall in certain places, where for distances of a few 
yards or at most a few miles the streams assume the form of shoals, 
rapids and cascades. The several geologic formations which go to 
make up this plateau cross the State obliquely, parallel to the 
mountains and the seashore, and in the main they form a succession of 
belts of granites, slates and gneisses, turned sharply on edge and across 
which the streams have carved their channels in making their way to the 
sea. The fact that these rocks differ greatly in character, and are 
eroded with varying rapidity by the action of the water in the stream, 
gives rise to the conditions which are productive of rapids and shoals, 
and in this way the development of many water-powers is made 
possible. 

THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN REGION. 

This region may be said to have its culmination in North Carolina, 
since here it reaches its point of maximum development. This region 
embraces an irregular and very mountainous tableland, lying between 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 5 1 

the steep and well defined escarpment of the Blue Ridge on the east 
and southeast, and the less regular, but in places equally prominent, 
northwestern slope of the Great Smoky Mountains. Numerous cross 
chains connect these two ranges, and the region taken as a whole has 
an average elevation of about 2,700 feet, but there are many peaks which 
rise above 5,000 feet and a considerable number which are over 6,000 
feet high, while Mt. Mitchell, the highest of the Black Mountains, and 
the highest mountain to the east of the Rockies has an elevation of 
6,711 feet. 

The mountain slopes, though usually steep, are forest covered and 
have a deep and fertile soil, of varying physical character, but as a 
rule very porous and capable of storing up large quantities of water 
and feeding it out to the rivers and smaller streams in time of drought. 
This character of soil and forest covering has such an effect on the flow 
of the rivers draining this area that even in times of the most excessive 
drought they carry a volume of water greater than will be found in 
streams draining an area many times as large, but located out of the 
mountains. 

In the consideration of the climate of any region with reference to 
its effect on the water-power of the region only the amount and the 
seasonal distribution of the rainfall possess a great deal of interest, 
except in so far as the temperature affects this, by the formation of ice 
in excessive quantities. In a country located as in North Carolina 
this may be dismissed with the brief statement that this has no effect 
whatever, for nowhere in the State does ice form in quantity sufficient 
to cause a cessation of operations for more than a day or two, even in 
the coldest weather, and many winters pass without this trouble being 
encountered. 

As before stated, on account of the topography of the Coastal Plain 
region the streams flowing through that area have no value for water- 
power purposes, and consequently the climate there will not be dis- 
cussed. Taken as a whole North Carolina belongs to that region of 
the United States characterized by the largest precipitation, the center 
of which lies on the Gulf Coast about the mouth of the Mississippi 
River, but there are areas on the southeastern slopes of the Blue Ridge 
within the borders of the State which receive an annual rainfall not 
exceeded anywhere except on the coast of Washington and Oregon. 
The annual averages for two stations located in the area characterized 
by this excessive precipitation are 72 and 73 inches respectively. This 
amount is very much greater than is to be expected over the mountain 
region, taken as a whole, the average for this section being about 53 
inches per annum, that for the Piedmont Plateau region being even 
less, averaging 48 inches. 

These amounts are greater than the average rainfall experienced on 
the basins of the streams of the New England States, where the power 
is so much used, and which have been such a source of prosperity to 
that region, and as a rule the run off per square mile in time of drought 
is greater for these streams than for those of New England, even 
though those experience the regulating effects of the lakes which are 
to be found in that region, and where moreover the soil is largely a 
glacial drift, which is capable of storing up large quantities of water. 



52 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

This large dry weather flow, however, is not characteristic of all 
the streams of North Carolina, and is not found on the Tar, Neuse and 
Cape Fear Rivers, and the same is true to a less extent of the Roanoke 
River. On all the other streams of the State the flow in drought is 
very large. 

This is in a very great measure accounted for by the favorable dis- 
tribution of the rainfall throughout the year, the time of maximum 
rainfall occurring in July and August, when the evaporation is the 
greatest and when the demands of vegetation are also very great, while 
the chief minimum amount of precipitation is observed in October, 
when evaporation is lessened and plants have about ceased growth. 
The August average is 134 per cent, of the monthly average, while the 
October average is 77 per cent. 

There is one other feature which must be considered when discus- 
sing the rainfall of a region in its effect on the water-power to be found 
there, and that is the occurrence of excessive freshets in the rivers, 
and their duration. It may be said that about once in half a century 
the rivers of North Carolina, in common with those of the whole 
United States, are visited by freshets of great magnitude, which work 
much destruction to the farming lands along the banks, but which in 
this State have but small effect on any construction across or near the 
stream. So far as the writer is aware there is no record of a well 
built dam ever being destroyed by high water on any of the rivers of 
North Carolina, and there has been only one flood which has done any 
damage to mill buildings by flooding. There are, however, two flood 
periods for the rivers of the State, in the spring and again in July and 
August, but owing to the slope of the channels these floods are very 
short in duration, a stream often rising and falling in twenty-four 
hours, while no flood lasts more than from two to three days. The 
loss of time from this cause is therefore quite small. 

In a short paper such as this it is impossible to even name the 
greater part of the water-powers to be found in the State. For this 
purpose a volume would be necessary, and those desiring to pursue 
the subject at length are referred to a report on this subject recently 
issued by the North Carolina Geological Survey, as Bulletin 8 of the 
survey series of publications, in which will be found at some length 
and with as much detail as possible descriptions of a great number of 
the water-powers of North Carolina. 

POWER POSSIBILITIES. 

In this paper only the largest of these will be touched on, and no 
attempt will be made to express the size in figures, though the power 
available will range from one to many thousand horse-powers. 

The rivers of the State will be taken in geographical order, from 
north to south, and the power possibilities of each briefly described. 

On the Roanoke River the first power met with is found at and 
near Weldon, where the river crosses the fall-line. Here the fall is 
about 85 feet in a distance of about 9 miles above Weldon, and as the 
volume of water carried by the stream is large at all times, the 
drainage area above this place being more than 8,000 square miles, a 
large amount of power can be made available. Two companies have 







ON LINVILLE RIVER. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 53 

interested themselves in the development of this power, much work 
has been done and the development completed, though the full capacity 
of the power has not been reached as yet. The power is sold to a 
number of mills at very reasonable rates, the mills being built either 
along the canals and using the water direct or electric power is fur- 
nished where desired. It is calculated by the engineers in charge of 
the development work that more than 18,000 horse- power can be se- 
cured here. 

Above this point the fall of the river is considerable, but there are 
no other powers at all comparable to this one, though there are several 
localities where power sufficient for the needs of a single large mill 
can be obtained. 

The Roanoke River is formed at Clarkesville, Virginia, by the in- 
junction of the Dan and Staunton Rivers, the course of the Staunton 
lying wholly in Virginia, while the Dan is in North Carolina for the 
greater part of its length above the City of Danville, and there are 
in this part of its course a large number of localities where powers less 
than 500 horse-powers could be easily and cheaply developed and on 
several of the tributaries of the Dan in this part of its course powers 
have been developed which are now furnishing power for a number of 
large cotton mills, notably those at Spray and Mayodan. 

The water-power on the Tar River is of small importance, with the 
single exception of that at Rocky Mount, where the river crosses the 
fall-line, and this power is used to its full capacity by the Rocky 
Mount Cotton Mill. 

The Neuse River is of somewhat more importance as a power 
stream as there are a number of sites where power in some quantity 
may be secured, the most notable of these being located at Milburnie 
and at the Falls of Neuse, both of which have been recently devel- 
oped to their full capacity. 

Passing to the southward, the Cape Fear River is the next stream 
and there are found along its length a number of powers of more im- 
portance than any yet mentioned, with the exception of that found on 
the Roanoke River at and near Weldon. The first power met with 
on this stream as it is ascended is that known as Smiley' s Falls, 
where the river crosses the fall-line in a shoal about three and a half 
miles in length, and with a total fall of about 27 feet, furnishing one 
of the largest powers in that section of the State. This site is now 
being developed, and it is proposed to transmit the power elec- 
trically to the*'town'^of Fayettteville for manufacturing and other pur- 
poses. Buckhorn Falls is the most important power on the river 
above Smiley' s Falls, the available fall here being about 20 feet. It 
seems probable that this power will be developed at an early date as 
the preliminary surveys have already been made. 

The Cape Fear River is formed a short distance below the village 
of Moncure by the junction of the Haw and Deep Rivers, both of 
these being manufacturing streams of great importance, and on which 
the power available is already very largely in use, though the largest 
powers on both streams are as yet awaiting development. 

On the Deep River the first power met with above the junction 
with the Haw is found at Lockville, where there is a total fall of 



54 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

about 27 feet, and where a large amount of power can be secured. 
The development of this power is projected in conjunction with that 
of Buckhorn Falls, noted above. Above this site there are a large 
number of powers, many of them of magnitude sufficient to supply a 
single mill, and cotton mills are now located on many of these, 
eleven being situated on its banks, besides a number of grist mills 
and saw mills. 

Haw River is also a stream of considerable importance, 
having along its course a number of important water-powers, 
some of which are as yet undeveloped. The best known of these lat- 
ter is probably that known as the Moore mill-site, where the fall is 
22 feet and the amount of power quite large. Henley's mill-site is 
also an important site, the available fall being about 16 feet, and 
there are a number of powers above these, but of less importance. 
There are ten cotton mills located on this stream and on its tribu- 
taries. 

Passing now to the west we come to the Yadkin River, this 
stream and the Catawba being the principal power streams of the 
State, on account of their size and large fall. On the Yadkin the 
fall is great and much concentrated, so that the powers are large and 
numerous, and only those of greatest importance can therefore be 
noted. The first power on the stream in North Carolina, as it is 
ascended, is that known as the Grassy Island shoal, located about 13 
miles above the South Carolina line. Here there is an available fall 
of 35 or 36 feet in a distance of about four and a half miles, and the 
power available is more than 7, 500 horse-powers. Surveys have recently 
been made of this power, and it seems probable that it will be devel- 
oped shortly. 

Probably the most famous water-power to be found in the Southern 
States is that known as the "Narrows of the Yadkin." At this place 
the river contracts from a width of more than a thousand feet to 
an average width of not more than one hundred and fifty feet, 
while in places the width is not more than sixty feet. From the 
banks, which are from ten to fifteen feet in height and almost perpen- 
dicular there extends back on both sides of the river a flood plain 
about one hundred and fifty yards wide, from which the river hills rise 
very steeply. In the gorge thus formed, which is about one mile long 
there is a fall of about 37 feet, and from the head of the narrows to the 
mouth of the Uharie River, a distance of about four miles, the total 
fall is 91 feet. 

Immediately above the head of the Narrows there is a series of 
rapids containing an aggregate fall of 110 feet in eight miles. 

For many years it was considered that the great cost of development 
rendered this part of the river valueless for power purposes, bnt recently 
the development has been begun, and it is stated that a total of more 
than 30,000 horse- power will be developed, making this water-power 
second only to that at Niagara. 

A short distance above the head of the rapids noted above are found 
two very good water- powers, the fall in each case being about fourteen 
feet, and in addition to these there area number of places where power 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 55 

in quantity can be secured but space forbids the mention of all but 
two. A fall of ten feet has been developed by the Fries Manufacturing 
and Power Company, and 1,000 horse-power is transmitted electrically 
to Winston- Salem and there used for manufacturing and other pur- 
poses. Bean Shoal is the principal power on the upper part of the 
river, having a fall of 39 feet in about four miles, so located that an 
easy and safe development could be secured. 

In addition to the enormous amounts of power which are to be 
found on the main river, briefly sketched above, there are large 
amounts used and still available on some of the tributaries, notably on 
those classed as sand hill streams. One of these, Hitchcock's Creek, 
which is only from 16 to 20 miles long from source to mouth and drains 
about 102 square miles, furnished power sufficient for the operation of 
six large cotton mills. The south Yadkin is the most important of the 
tributaries, having several important power sites located on it, of 
which the most noted is that at Cooleemee, where a large cotton mill 
has recently been constructed. 

There are many large powers on the Catawba River in North Caro- 
lina, of which the first is known as the Tuckaseegee Shoal, partly de- 
veloped. The next and probably the most important on the river 
within North Carolina, is the power at the Mountain Island Shoal 
where the fall available is 38 feet, and where a large amount of power 
can be obtained. This shoal is also partially developed, and the power 
used by one cotton mill. It has been reported recently that this power 
would be developed to its full capacity and the power transmitted 
electrically to Charlotte. Above this locality are the Cowan- Ford 
Shoal, Beattie- Ford Shoal, Monbo Shoal, Long Island Shoal and Buffalo 
Shoal, all good water- powers. 

Lookout vShoal has the greatest fall of any on the river in North 
Carolina, the fall from head to foot being over 54 feet, and a large 
amount of power can be easily developed. It is reported that this de- 
velopment is to be made in the near future and the power utilized for 
a large cotton mill. Above this are found the Lower Little River 
Shoal, Canoe Landing Shoal , Great Falls and Horse Ford Shoals, which 
are all very good locations and worthy of investigation by those seeking 
water-power, and above these there are others where smaller amounts 
of power can be easily and cheaply obtained. 

The south fork of the Catawba River is one of the principal manu- 
facturing streams of the State, almost all of the power being in use. 
There are eight cotton mills deriving power from this stream, and 
numbers of others nearby. 

It may be said in reference to the water-powers on the Yadkin and 
Catawba Rivers that the facilities for transportation are quite good, 
as none of them are more than a few miles from a railroad. 

There are a number of water-powers found on the Broad River and 
its tributaries, these being for the most part undeveloped, such as the 
Hopper and Blanton Shoal, the Palmer Shoal, Durham Shoal and Big 
Island Ford Shoal. The power on the tributaries has been much more 
largely developed than has that of the main stream. Thus on the First 
Broad River and its tributaries there are four cotton mills and several 
saw mills and grist mills operated by water-power. 



56 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

On the Second Broad River are located the Henrietta Mills, Nos. 
1 and 2, containing a total of 60,000 spindles and 2,000 looms, all oper- 
ated by the water of the stream. The power on the other tributaries 
with the exception of that on Green River is not worthy of mention. 

No very thorough examination of the streams to the west of the 
Blue Ridge has ever been made though it is known that the conditions 
are favorable for the development of large amounts of power on all of 
these streams at a number of places. The fall per mile of all these 
streams is great, the dry weather flow large and constant, and the con- 
ditions for building dams, etc., are uniformly favorable. 

However these streams are subject to floods and to periods of com- 
paratively low flow, though even in the most extreme drought the flow 
per square mile is great, but the drainage areas are small. 

The greater number of localities in this region which are consid- 
ered favorable for water-power development are unfortunately located 
many miles from a railroad, and there is no such thing in the region 
as a good wagon road, while in many cases the river gorges are so nar- 
row and the surrounding country so rough that the conditions are not 
favorable for the establishment of adjacent manufacturing plants. 
Hence in the development and utilization of these powers it would 
seem not only advisible but necessary that the power should be trans- 
mitted from the places where it can be developed to the railroads, 
where it can be used and where locations for plants and transportation 
facilities may be had. 

Beginning on the north, and proceeding southward, the New River 
is the first of the transmontane streams to engage attention. Nearly 
all of the locations on this stream which are susceptible of develop- 
ment are to be found on the North and South Forks and will be des- 
scribed later. The first shoal on the main river which deserves men- 
tion here is that in the northern part of Ashe Count}' where the river 
makes a bend into North Carolina. Here for almost four miles the 
river is a continuous rapid, and there are a number of localities where 
power could be developed in quantity, especially about Horse Ford. 
Above this shoal on the main river there are several others where it is 
known conditions are favorable for development, but concerning which 
the detailed information is very meagre. 

On the North Fork of New River the first power above the mouth 
is that found partially developed at Dixon's Mill, the developed fall 
being eight feet, and where the power is reported to be more than 300 
horse-power. On this stream also "The Falls" and Sharps Shoal are 
said to be good locations, but are very inaccessible. 

On the South Fork the Wallace Forge Shoal, the Witherspoon Ford 
Shoal, Dog Creek Shoal, Yates Shoal, Turtle Shoal, Roaring Shoal and 
Elk Shoal are all good and easily available powers, but as noted be- 
fore for the sites on the North Fork they are very inaccessible. 

The stream next to the south is the Watauga River, draining a 
total area of 162 square miles in North Carolina. This stream is every- 
where a rapid one and for a considerable portion of its course it flows 
as a series of rapids in a very inaccessible gorge which is very deep 
and very narrow, and with steep and rocky sides so that a high dam 




GREAT FALLS AND BULKHEAD — ROANOKE RIVER — WELDON. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 5^ 

could be constructed at any point desired. Between the Tennessee 
line and Shulls Mill, a distance by river of about 19 miles, the total 
fall is 900 feet and the average fall per mile is therefore about 47 feet. 
The power available on this stream is entirely unutilized, and it will 
pi-obably remain so until transportation facilities are provided. 

On the Toe River and its tributaries large amounts of -power are 
available theoretically, as this stream is a very rapid one throughout 
its course in North Carolina, and like the Watauga flows at many 
points in a deep and narrow rocky gorge. There are occasional high 
floods in which the water rises and falls with great rapidity, and at 
rarer intervals in the spring there is some little trouble from the 
breaking up of the ice, which, moving down the stream, forms tem- 
porary dams, but this is nothing like so serious as in the more north- 
ern States. On this river as on the "Watauga it would be a matter of 
difficulty to name any particular locality, for power can be secured any- 
where, and also as on that stream it is at present valueless for the lack 
of a market. 

The French Broad River is more accessible and better known than 
any of the mountain streams yet described. Throughout the upper 
part of its tourse the descent is uniform and the current sluggish so 
that it may be said that there is no power above Asheville, but below 
this place the conditions are changed. Between Asheville and Paint 
Rock there is a total fall of 710 feet and while the declivity is fairly 
uniform there are a number of shoals of greater or less prominence, 
and of these that at Mountain Island is the first where there is any 
noticeable concentration. There is a good power here which could be 
developed. 

Between Hot Springs and the mouth of Brush Creek, a distance of 
7. 7 miles the total fall is 201 feet, or an average fall of 26. 1 feet per mile, 
and this may be called one shoal for all practical purposes, and would 
furnish an enormous amount of power if it could all be utilized. 

From Brush Creek to Asheville, a distance of 29.3 miles the total 
fall is 450 feet, the average fall per mile being 15.37 feet, which is well 
distributed, there being little noticeable concentration of fall on this 
part of the river, though there are localities where power in quantity 
can be developed. A power has been developed at Marshall, using 
about ten feet fall, and only a small amount of water, for the opera- 
tion of a flouring mill, and a large development has recently been un- 
dertaken a short distance below Asheville, where some thousands of 
horse-powers will be developed and used in the operation of a large 
cotton mill and transmitted for other purposes. A small power has 
been partially developed immediately below Asheville, the purpose 
being to supply power for lights and cars, but nothing has been done 
in this direction for some time, and power for the above purposes is 
now obtained from a transmission line from a plant on Big Ivy River 
a short distance above Marshall, where there is a dam of 95 feet in 
height, giving a total fall of 110 feet, and developing, it is claimed, 
more than 2,000 horse- power. 

Many power sites are to be found on the Little Tennessee River 
and its tributaries. The slope of the stream is great, averaging from 



58 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ten to forty feet to the mile and localities where large amounts of 
power could be developed are numerous, such being determined more 
by topographic conditions than by the amount of fall in the immediate 
vicinity, and the same is true of the Cheoah River, the average fall 
per mile on this stream being between 55 and 60 feet. Both these 
rivers are very inaccessible throughout almost their entire length. 

The Tuckaseegee River which is the principal tributary of the 
Little Tennessee, like the other mountain streams flows for the greater 
part of its course in a narrow gorge, and there are numerous places 
where by the construction of dams, excellent powers can be secured. 
This river is more accessible for a part of its length than the Little 
Tennessee, as a railroad is built along its banks for some distance. 

Of the Nantahala River, which is another tributary of the Little 
Tennessee River, nothing more can be said than that it is a continuous 
rapid, with a very heavy fall and that power in quantity could be de- 
veloped anywhere it might be needed. 

On the Hiwassee River the fall is in general well distributed and 
amounts to about ten feet per mile. Power in some quantity can be 
obtained at a number of places, none of which can be mentioned by 
name. 

As brief and as general as the above sketch is necessarily compelled 
to be, it is easy to be seen that the State possesses a great future source 
of wealth when these water-powers come to be put to the uses which the 
ingenuity of man will one day find for them. At almost all of the 
localities mentioned the topographic conditions are such as to make 
the cost of development comparatively small, building materials of 
good quality and of abundant quantity can generally be secured in the 
immediate vicinity, the rainfall is large in amount and well distributed 
throughout the year, and though the rivers are subject to floods and to 
periods of low flow, the run oft" from the drainage area is generally 
large. Finally, labor is cheap, and the climate mild, not too cold in 
winter nor so warm in summer as to enervate the operatives. 

Now that the movement of the cotton mill to the cotton has begun, 
it having been discovered that all but possibly the very finest grades of 
cotton goods can be produced in the South, it is fitting that these 
powers of North Carolina should be brought before the public, and in the 
search for powers of considerable magnitude, which can be easily and 
cheaply developed, which when developed can be made to operate 
manufacturing plants under the most favorable conditions, these water- 
powers will receive, in the not far distant future the recognition at the 
hands of the industrial world to which they are entitled. 

In the past one of the greatest obstacles" to the development of 
water-powers in North Carolina has been the grasping and short- 
sighted policy pursued by adjoining land owners, or by the owners of 
the privileges themselves, which are often held for speculation at 
exorbitant prices, the owners regarding them in the same light as they 
would a rich and productive gold mine. It is rarely the case that it 
is a necessity in any business to use water as the source of the operative 
power, and when water is so used it is only because its use costs less 
than fuel for the development of steam. Nor is it necessary except in 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 59 

special cases that a manufacturing plant be established in a certain 
designated locality, for as a rule there are a number of places equally 
favorable for the transaction of any form of business, or the carrying 
on of any species of manufacturing. It is not therefore the fuel cost 
in the locality where the water-power is located that will determine 
its value to the prospectiva purchaser, but the cost in the most favor- 
able locality in which he can carry on his business, and no v/atcr- 
power is worth more to any one than that sum of money which 
capitalized at the prevailing rate of interest will build and maintain 
a steam plant in the most favored locality for the prosecution of the 
particular business in which it is desired to engage. It is the failure 
to recognize this basic principle which has held many valuable water- 
powers back from development. 

Moreover if such a development is contemplated by an individual 
or corporation, the bottom land, which must be bought for flowage 
and which has formerly produced but a moderate crop or none at all, at 
once assumes a wonderful value in the eyes of the owner, and is some- 
times hardly to be purchased at any price. This very fact has un- 
doubtedly prevented the establishment of important enterprises. It 
would seem the better plan for the farmers whose lands are desired to 
encourage by all the means at their command the establishment of 
such, for while the gains of the average farmer located far from a 
market are apt to be small, they are sure to be increased by the 
establishment of manufacturing villages and towns which require to be 
supplied with farm products, and which therefore open up oppor- 
tunities for gain which were impossible before. Not only this but the 
establishment of such manufacturing towns leads to a substantial in- 
crease in the values of real estate, and for the sake of the advantages 
which will surely accrue to them, there are times when it is good 
policy to give to good companies without charge the flowage rights 
which they require. 

North Carolina can supply many powers which are sufficient for 
the needs of a single mill, and there are within its borders others 
which are of magnitude great enough to supply the needs of a great 
manufacturing city. Minneapolis and Holyoke, Manchester and 
Lewiston, Lowell and Lawrence, Bellows Falls and Rochester, the 
great manufacturing cities of the United States, owe their growth to 
the water-power available in the streams on whose banks they stand. 
Fall River, in Massachusetts, where the prices of cotton cloth through- 
out the entire country may be said to be fixed, owes its growth en- 
tirely to the water-power to be foimd there, for this, v.'hile amount- 
ing only to some 1,300 horse-power, was early utilized by a number of 
cotton mills which were found to be so profitable that a large number 
of mills using steam-power have been built, and a great manufactur- 
ing city has grown up about them in course of time. 

North Carolina can supply pov/ers as large as the largest noted 
above and many as large as the smallest, and yet with the exception 
of the power at Niagara Falls these are the largest developed water- 
powers in the United States. That North Carolina has now within 
her borders no Minneapolis, no Lowell nor Manchester, is entirely 



60 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



owing to the conditions which have been prevalent among the people 
of the Southern States for many years, and from which they are just 
beginning to awake, but the awakening has begun, and in the days 
that are not far in the future the hum of the spindle and the clatter 
of the loom, the roar of the blast furnace and the clash and clamp of 
iron works and machine shops will be heard in spots which are now 
waste places, and each such will call into being a busy town. 

Already much capital has been invested in the State, mainly in 
the manufacture of cotton goods, but many other industries have had 
a beginning. In 1870 there were only 40,000 spindles in the entire 
State, while in 1895 there were 156 cotton and woolen mills in active 
operation. 11 new mills in course of construction, and a number of 
others projected. These mills contained 913,458 spindles and 24,858 
looms, and represented an invested capital of $15,000,000, giving em- 
ployment to 15,752 persons, and using possibly some 30,000 horse- 
power, of which 33 per cent, was obtained from water. In 1897 
there were 210 mills, containing 1,044,385 spindles and 24,517 looms, 
with an invested capital of $17,242,950, giving employment to 26,287 
persons, and using about 43,000 horse- power. 

As an example of the benefit which a manufacturing enterprise 
may be to a community by putting money into circulation the follow- 
ing may be cited. The mills in Richmond County paid out in five 
years a total of $2,063,720.59, distributed as follows: 

Cotton $1,458,346 59 

Wages . , 577,542 31 

Taxes 14,215 69 

Wood 13,616 00 



$2,063,720 59 



As will be seen nearly every cent of this has gone into the pock- 
ets of the citizens of the county. 

That the industrial awakening of the State must be accompanied 
by the development of its water-powers is a foregone conclusion, for 
power is a necessity in all manufactures, and the greater part of the 
power to be used in North Carolina must be derived from the water 
flowing in the streams of the State, for the supplies of coal to be found 
within the State are small in quantity and poor in quality. With in- 
creasing competition the cost of fuel will become even a more serious 
item than at present, and it will be necessary to put the water-powers 
to use as a measure of self-defense against those mills located where 
coal is very cheap, instead of very dear as in this State. Moreover 
the tendency of the coal market is apt to be ever an upward one as the 
depth of the workings increases. 

Practically the sources of energy upon which man has to rely for 
the operation of machinery and the performance of useful work are 
limited to fuel and water-power. Owing to conditions now prevalent 
within the State many mills using steam as the source of power use 
wood for fuel, and draw the supply from the country nearby, but 
owing to the vast demands which are constantly being made in various 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 6 1 

ways on the forest resources of the State, this supply will be ex- 
hausted before the expiration of a great number of years, and it will 
be necessary to either use coal or find some other and cheaper source 
of power, and water-power will fill this need. 

Formerly in comparing water-power with steam the most striking 
point of difference and that which constituted the gi'eat advantage 
possessed by steam was that it was mobile and could be obtained and 
used in any place where fuel could be obtained, independently of any 
particular location. Mills using steam power could therefore be 
located in places suitable for the most economical production and dis- 
posal of the finished product, while those using or desiring to use 
water-power were compelled to build where the power was located and 
were thus placed at a serious disadvantage. Convenient transportation 
facilities constituted therefore a most important factor affecting the 
relative value of water-power and steam-power, and many water- powers 
technically available were rendered valueless for the lack of this essen- 
tial element. 

This is, however, no longer true, for water-power is now as mobile 
as steam for it can be developed and transmitted electrically to very 
considerable distances, with little loss and at a comparatively low cost, 
and as an added convenience it can be divided and subdivided at will, 
so that a single line of shafting or even a single machine can be oper- 
ated without reference to the remainder of the mill, heavy and cum- 
bersome belts with all their attendant dangers and disadvantages are 
done away with, danger from fire is eliminated and finally many elec- 
trically-driven machines will do more and better work than they will 
do when any other form of motive power is used. 

Water-power may be developed and transmitted from eighty to one 
hundred miles and still reach the consumer at a less cost per horse- 
power per year than would be necessary to develop the power on the 
spot from coal or other fuel. 

Very few users of power have any idea as to what their power costs 
them. They know, of course, the amount annually expended on the 
plant for fuel, maintenance, interest, attendance, taxes and insurance, 
but what they do not know is the amount of power they receive in re- 
turn for this expenditure, and so they cannot tell whether they are 
operating as economically as possible or not. Moreover, it is not an 
economical measure to 1?ake a gatling gun to kill a mosquito and it is 
no more economical to operate a 250 horse-power engine constantly, 
when for a large part of the time possibly one of 50 horse-power will 
do the work as well. The conditions have been reversed, and now 
the user of electrically transmitted water-power pays only for the ac- 
tual power used in the operation of his machinery, while the user of 
direct steam power pays for what he wastes as well through uneconomi- 
cal loading of the engines and boilers, and this latter item in many 
cases constitutes a very large proportion of the annual cost for power. 

In a presentation of the advantages of water-power as compared 
with steam for purposes of manufacturing, it is therefore necessary to 
show that the former is in almost every case the cheaper form of 
power, and consequently some figures as to relative cost of develop- 
ment and operation will be of interest. 



62 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



From the length of time during which steam has been in use as a 
motive power it would be supposed that there would be definite data 
at hand from which, given the cost of fuel in any individual case, the 
annual cost of steam power per horse- power could be accurately and 
certainly computed. Many tests have been made looking toward this 
end and the results so obtained are to be relied upon when the condi- 
rions under which the tests were made are complied with in practice, 
but there are in the steam boilers of commerce such varying ratios of 
grate to heating surface and of either to the quantity of water to be 
evaporated, that the general problem is as yet of imcertain solution. 
The rate of combustion of the fuel is a varying quantity, as is also the 
composition of the fuel itself, for fuels differ widely in their heating 
capacity and firemen differ widely also in their ability to secure the 
best results from a given fuel. The temperature at which the gases 
of combustion are delivered into the atmosphere will also have a 
large effect on the economy of operation, and even the state of the 
atmosphere itself is not without effect. 

When all these factors enter the question it is easily seen that the 
best that can be done is to give the results obtained by those who have 
made the matter a subject of special study, and who have determined 
the cost under stated conditions. 

The following results have been reached by Dr. C. E. Emery as to 
the cost of horse- power per year, the capacity of the engine on which 
the experiments were conducted being 500 horse-power, run v/ith full 
load ten hours per day for 308 days in the year, the price of coal being 
$3.00 per ton. 

Kind of engine. Cost per horse-power. 

Simple low speed engine ...... $34 20 

Simple low speed condensing ..... 26 76 

Compound condensing . . . . . . . 25 53 

In ordinary practice the cost may be taken as from 25 per cent, to 
50 per cent, greater than this, since it is unusual for engines to run 
continuously at full load, the stoking is apt to be carelessly done, and 
it is certain thdt the average engine does not measure up to its rating. 

After considering the efhciency of the various forms of heat 
engines. Dr. Louis Bell summarizes the results obtained by him as 
follows, coal being taken at $3.00 per ton as be^re. 



Kind of Engine. 


Cost per horse- 
power per hour. 
Full load. 


Cost per horse- 
power per hour. 
Part load. 


Large Compound Condensing. , . . 

loo Horse- Power, Simple 

20 Horse Power or Less 


Cents. 

o.Sto I 

1.5 to 2.5 

7 to 12 


Cents. 

I to 1.5 

3 to 5 

12 to 20 



Thus to develop 500 horse-power by means of a compound 
condensing engine running at full load for ten hours daily for 308 days 
in a year, as before, would require a total expenditure of $13,860, or 
$27. 72 per horse- power per year, while to operate the same engine with 
partial load might run the cost per horse-power as high as $46.20. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



63 



For a simple engine, non-condensing, of 100 horse-power, the cost 
per horse-power per year according to the results given above will be 
$46.20; while operating under partial load the cost may be as high as 
$154. 00. 

These figures do not include interest on the original cost of the 
plant or any of the other fixed expenses with which the plant is neces- 
sarily charged, and the addition of which would increase the figures 
as given above. 

The most thorough investigation of the cost of steam-power with 
which the writer is familiar, is that carried out by Professor Unwin, 
an English scientist of brilliant attainments, and which are partially 
given in his book "On the Development and Transmission of Power." 
The follovkfing tables are taken from this source, the figures, however, 
being changed from English money to dollars and cents. 

"The probable cost of steam-power in any given case can only be 
determined by careful estimates in which local conditions are taken 
into account. The cost of coal, facilities for obtaining water, the cost 
of labor, even the type of engine and the character of the buildings re- 
quired are more or less different in different cases. Further, the way 
in which the power is applied, the number of hours the engine is used 
per day, and the regularity of the load during working hours affect 
very much the cost. Certain typical cases may, however, be taken and 
an average estimate made of the cost in such cases. This will afford 
some indication as to how far motive-power supplied from central sta- 
tions by some method of transmission can be used economically, in 
place of power generated locally by steam engines. 

"COST OF ENGINES, BOILERS AND BUILDINGS. 

"With engines of 100 horse- power or more, the cost can be pretty 
definitely stated, and the total cost of engines and boilers per horse- 
power does not vary very greatly with the type of engine adopted. 
For if a cheaper and simpler type of engine is selected, then, its efii- 
ciency being less, the boilers have to be larger. But with small en- 
gines the cost per horse-power increases very considerably because 
small engines are are less efficient, and because they are more expen- 
sive to construct. 

. " It will be assumed for the following estimates that the total cost 
erected of engines and boilers with pipes and auxiliary apparatus and 
such buildings as are necessary, may be taken as follows: 

"POST OF STEAM PLANT. 



Indicated H. P 


I 


10 


50 


200 






Effective H. P 


0.7 

272.72 
389.60 


7.5 
146.10 
194.80 


40 
116. 88 
146.10 


165 


Cost per Indicated H. P. in dollars 

Cost per Effective H. P. ia dollars 


97.40 
121.75 



"In determining the annual cost interest will be taken at 5 per 
cent, and maintenance (repairs) and depreciation at 7^ per cent. 



64 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



"COST OF COAL AND PETTY STORES. 

"In the following estimates coal will be taken at 20 shillings 
($4.87) per ton. The amount of coal required must be calculated so 
as to allow for lighting up boiler furnaces, for waste and for cooling 
of boilers and brickwork when steam is let down, and for working 
auxiliary apparatus, such as feed pumps. 

"WORKING COST OF STEAM PLANT. 



Indicated H. P 


I 


10 


SO 


200 






Effective H. P 

Coal per I. H. P., lbs 

Coal per E. H. P., lbs 


0.7 

8 


7-5 

SX 

7 


40 


165 
2 

2X 



"The cost of petty stores (oil, waste, etc.) will be taken as 0.25^' 
($1.22) per effective horse- power per annum in the case of moderately 
large engines working ten hours per day. In other cases a proportion- 
ate estimate will be made. 

"COST OF LABOR. 

For driving, stoking and cleaning an allowance of '^.1£ ($5.84) 
per annum per effective horse-power for 3,000 hours or 0.6;^ ($2.92) per 
annum for 1,000 hours will be made. In the case of engines of 10 
horse- power or less, however, the labor reckoned on the horse- power 
cost considerably more. 

"COST OF AN EFFECTIVE HORSE-POWER PER YEAR OF 3,000 

WORKING HOURS, THE ENGINE WORKING REGULARLY 

WITH NEARLY FULL LOAD. 



Indicated H. P 

Interest at 5 per cent, on engines, boilers 
and buildings . . 

Maintainance and depreciation at 7^ per cen t 

Coal at $4.87 per ton 

Petty Stores 

Labor 

Total cost of an effective horse-power per 
year of 3,000 hours, in dollars 



50 



200 



% 19 20 


$ 9 


74 


29 22 


14 


bi 


74 Q5 


45 


7« 


3 65 


2 


19 


60 87 


29 


22 


$187 89 


$101 


54 



I 7 30 

10 96 

22 79 

I 46 

7 30 



M 09 

9 15 

14 76 

I 22 

5 84 



81 $37 06 



If coal be taken at $3.00 per ton instead of at $4.87, the other items 
remaining the same, then the cost as given above for engines of 200 
horse- power will be reduced to $33.22 per horse- power per annum 
which does not differ very greatly from the results given above as ob- 
tained by Dr. Emery and Dr. Bell, and the difference may easily be 
accounted for by the higher prices assumed for labor and for first cost 
of plant, and also from the fact that these estimates include items for 



Cost. 


$13 


00 


2 


00 


2 


50 


2 


00 


2 


SO 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 65 

interest and depreciation, which are not taken into account in those 
given before. 

Before the electrical power from Niagara Falls was introduced into 
the City of Buffalo a very careful estimate of the cost of steam power 
in that city was made, and it was found to cost from $45 to $60 per 
horse-power per annum for days of 24 hours, coal being very cheap and 
the units large. 

Mr. John W. Hays, in an article appearing in the Manufacturers 
Record of March 14, 1901, gives the following as the average cost of 
operation of steam plants in the Southern States: 

"A compound condensing engine and standard boilers cost for 
operation in the South about as follows, estimate based on coal at $3. 50 
per ton, plant to run eleven hours, 308 days, 1,000 horse- power indi- 
cated. 

Items. — 

Coal 

Wages ....... 

Supplies . . . . . , 

Insurance, taxes, renewals .... 

Interest ........ 

Total per I. H. P. . . . . $22 50 

' ' If the plant and management is not the very best, this low cost 
will not be realized. I am aware that these figures are occasionally 
reduced. There are steam mills in the South which claim to produce 
their power for $20 and for less, even as low as $15. But usually they 
are mistaken, the power being reckoned at the nominal rating of the 
plant and no estimate being made for renewals. Steam power will be 
found to cost $30 oftener than $20, even with condensing engines. 
And with engines and boilers of inferior efficiency the cost of steam 
may run as high as $60 per horse- power per year. ' ' 

Before these figures can be directly compared with those given 
above, the indicated horse-power must be reduced to effective horse- 
power, which it is thought, for large engines will be as much as 0.9 of 
the amount indicated, and this will raise at once the cost to $25.00 per 
horse-power, which may still be regarded as low, lower than the 
average. 

Steam power is expensive, for no matter how cheaply coal can be 
purchased, it is always at a price, labor has to be paid to put it in the 
furnace to be burned uneconomically, and the engines and boilers 
deteriorate and have to be kept in repair and finally renewed. 

Water itself costs nothing, the water rights once bought, a well 
built masonry dam is practically indestructible and costs nothing for 
repairs, and though water wheels will wear out after a time and need 
replacement, still water-power is cheap power, which may be obtained 
wherever there is water in sufficient quantity, and some place over 
which it can be made to fall, and it may be used wherever desired. 

In making a comparison it is not just to compare the most favor- 
able results obtained with one source of power with the most unfavor- 



66 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

able obtained by using the other, and therefore in the case of steam 
only those results were given which have been reached in practice, 
and which with care may be attained in any locality. The same 
cou-rse will now be pursued with reference to the cost of water-power, 
although in this case it will not be possible to pursue the same method, 
for each water-power presents different conditions which affect the 
total cost of development and the annual cost per horss-pov/er de- 
veloped, so that this cost cannot be tabulated as has been done in the 
case of steam. However a number of results obtained in actual de- 
velopments will be given, and in many cases where it is not possible 
to do this the cost at which the power is sold can be obtained and it is 
a fair presumption that it is not sold at a loss. 

Proceeding from the general to the particular, it is stated by the 
General Electric Company in one of their circulars, that a fair average 
cost of developing a water-power may be taken about as follows: 
Development of water-power . ' . . $50 00 per horse-power 

Water rights and incidentals . . . 60 00 " " " 



$110.00 
For a plant to develop 500 horse- power then the entire first cost 
will be taken as $55,000 and the operating expenses may be tabulated 
as follows: 
Interest and depreciation at 10 per cent. . . , $5,500 00 

Attendance 1,000 00 

Maintenance ........ 1,650 00 



$8,150 00 

If the efficiency of the plant be taken at 84 per cent, then the cost 

per horse-power per annum will be about $19.40, and it is certain that 

the cost is less than this amount in a large number of cases, and 

probably in all cases in the Southern States. 

It is estimated that the power at Lawrence, Mass., where the devel- 
opment work cost complete $130 per horse- power, costs now to produce 
about $13.70 per horse- power per year. 

A number of figures will now be given, showing the rates at which 
power is or has been sold at a number of places in the United States. 
At Lewiston, Maine, the price for water-power per horse-power per 
annum ranges from $1.87 to $9,37; at Turner's Falls, Mass., the usual 
rate is $7.50 per horse- power, and the same rate is said to prevail at 
Bellows Falls, Vermont. At Cohoes, New York, the annual charge 
for power amounts to $14.67, that at Lockport is said to cost from 
$8.33 to $11.11, while at Patterson, N. J., the price varies from $36 to 
$50 per annum, and at Augusta, Ga. , the price per horse-power has 
been as low as $5.50 per year. At Weldon, N. C. , water-power is now 
sold at tlie rate of $15.00 per horse- power per year, this including a 
building site with a service of 24 hours, and electric power is furnished 
at the same rate for a 20 hour service. In the list given above it is 
not in all cases known for how many hours daily th© power may be 
used, but in some of the instances it is known that it may be used for 
the full 24 hours, if so desired. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. d'] 

If it is desired to transmit a water-power electrically, then accord- 
ing to the circular of the General Electric Company before referred to, 
the cost of the plant complete may be about $175 per gross horse- 
power, and if the efficiency of transmission be taken as 80 per cent, the 
development cost will be about $220 per horse-power delivered, and 
allov\ring 15 per cent, for depreciation and operation expenses, the total 
cost per electrical horse-power delivered will be about $33. 

Under favorable circumstances, however, the cost will be very 
much smaller than this. Within recent years a plant has been con- 
structed near Butte, Montana, to transmit 3,750 horse- power for a dis- 
tance of 21 miles, which cost complete $400,000, or $106.66 per horse- 
power. If operating expenses and depreciation are estimated at 15 
per cent, as before, the power ready for distribution costs $16 per year 
per horse- power. The Fries Manufacturing and Power Company have 
developed a water-power on the Yadkin River, and transmit 1,000 
horse- power a distance of 13.5 miles, at a total cost of $125,000, or 
$125 per horse- power delivered, the tested efficiency of the plant being 
88.5 per cent. This power is furnished to consumers at $20 per horse- 
power per year for a 12 hour service, and at $40 per year for a 24 hour 
service. 

The Niagara Falls Power Company has offered developed water- 
power at $13 per horse-power per year, and electric power at the gen- 
erator at $18. 

In connection with the relative cost of water-power, either used 
direct or electrically delivered, and the cost of steam-power, the ad- 
vantages gained by the electric distribution must not be lost sight of. 
The convenience, safety and economy of space of the motor are suffi- 
cient to decide in favor of the use of electricity, even where it can be 
obtained no more cheaply than steam-power, but there are very few 
places where steam-power can be developed cheaply enough to prevent 
electric power from finding a market in small amounts, even at $50 
or $75 per horse-power per annum. 

When the power is to be used for 24 hours daily the advantage of 
of water-power, either direct or transmitted, becomes even more appa- 
rent. In a steam plant all the operating expenses increase in propor- 
tion to the time of operation except interest, taxes and insurance, while 
with the water-^wwer plant only attendance, depreciation and inci- 
dentals increase in proportion to the time run. 

In considering the availability of a water-power for a manufactur- 
ing enterprise its value must of course be determined, and while this 
is primarily an engineering question, a few words showing the princi- 
ples on which any valuation must be based, will not be out of place 
here, even though every case presents problems peculiar to itself. 

It has been common to say that the value of a water-power was 
represented by a sum of money which v/hen put at interest would build 
and maintain a steam plant of the same power in the same place. For 
example it is proposed to purchase a water-power of 100 horse-power, 
and it is reasoned that taking into consideration the cost of fuel at 
that place and the other running expenses, a plant developing 100 
horse-power from steam at that place would cost $50 per horse-power. 



68 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



or that the running expenses of the plant will amount to $5,000 per 
annum, and this capitalized at 5 per cent, equals $100,000, which is 
commonly said to represent the value of the water-power. This rea- 
soning appears sound on the face of it, but it will appear upon exami- 
nation that it has no foundation and that probably there are no sets of 
conditions under which it will hold good. Let it be supposed for in- 
stance that the water-power referred to above is located in the moun- 
tains of North Carolina twenty miles from a railroad, for which dis- 
tance it would be necessary to haul fuel for a steam plant, and also to 
haul away all the products of the plant. It is evident then that the 
further from the railroad the water-power was located the greater its 
value would be. In other words if it were absolutely inaccessible it 
would be priceless. 

The true principle has been stated already in this paper in these 
words, "It is rarely the case that it is a necessity in any business to 
use water as the source of the operative power, and when water is so 
used it -is only because its use costs less than fuel for the development 
of steam. Nor is it necessary except in special cases that a manufac- 
turing plant be established in a certain designated locality, for as a 
rule there are a number of places equally favorable for the transaction 
of any form of business, or the carrying on of any species of manufac- 
turing. It is not, therefore, the fuel cost in the locality where the 
water-power is located that will determine its value to the prospective 
purchaser, but the cost in the most favorable locality in which he can 
carry on his business, and no water-power is worth more to any one 
than that sum of money which capitalized at the prevailing rate of in- 
terest will build and maintain a steam-plant in the most favorable 
locality for the prosecution of the particular business in which it is 
desired to engage." 

The above definition is true only on the supposition that the facili- 
ties for obtaining raw material and disposing of the finished product 
are equal for the two places, and that the other factors are as favora- 
ble in the one place as in the other. In such a case there will be 
nothing to choose between the locations, but if the water-power can 
be secured for a less sum than is indicated, other conditions remaining 
the same, then its purchase will be in the light of an investment. 

The value of a water-po\ver depends very largel}' upon the quantity 
of water flowing in the stream, its uniformity of flow for the year and 
for a succession of years, and upon the available fall, for upon these 
things depend the cost of construction and the necessity for an auxili- 
ary steam plant, and other things being equal the value is largely de- 
pendent on the location, this value ranging from nothing at all to the 
value given above, in which it is understood that the water-power in- 
cludes both the cost of the water rights and that of the development 
work necessary before the power can be used. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 69 

FORESTRY. 



THE forests of North Carolina are and have for many years been one 
of the chief resources of revenue to the people of the State, 
their products including domestic fuel, timber for construction 
and such forest by-products as turpentine and its derivatives. 

The forests, which extend from the sea level in the eastern and 
southeastern sections to altitudes of 6,600 feet along the State's 
western borders, where the Appalachian upheavals reach their culmi- 
nation, are made up of more or less distinctly marked regions having 
different kinds of trees, the different growth being due to the changes 
of temperature as the elevation varies and to the succession of different 
soils. There are three of these regions mostly clearly marked: the 
Coastal Plain with upland forests chiefly of pines; the Piedmont 
Plateau with forests of pine mixed with hardwoods, or belts of hard- 
woods with pine, alternating with belts of hardwoods without pines; 
and the Mountain, the forests of which lying above 2,000 feet eleva- 
tion are destitute of pine. 

The richness of the sylva of North Carolina, almost unequalled 
in the variety of hardwoods and conifers by that of any other region in 
temperate climates having an equal area, is unapproached by that of 
any other State or Territory. The great variety of soils and climate 
has brought together trees from all parts of eastern America so that 
twenty-four kinds of oaks are to be found in the State, which is three 
more than occur in any State to the north of this one; and two more 
than are to be found in any State south of this one; of the nine kinds 
of hickories known to occur in the United States, eight are to be 
found in North Carolina; here are all six maples of the eastern United 
States, all the lindens, all six of the American magnolias, three of the 
birches, eight pines out of eleven, both species of hemlock and balsam- 
fir, three elms out of five, six arborescent species of plum and cherry 
and three of pyrus (apple). 

In the eastern and particularly the southeastern part of the State, 
at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, the warm air, seldom below 
freezing, enables numerous trees which extend farther south, to 
Florida, Texas and even Mexico, to here make their northern limits, 
or to extend but little farther to the northward. This is the case with 
the palmetto, prickly ash, American olive (devil wood), mock orange 
and live oak, trees which, in this State, occur only along and near the 
coast, but extend southward to Florida or to Texas. The bleak and 
exposed mountain summits, on the other hand, bear forests of trees 
which there find their southern limit, but extend northward through 
northern New York and New England to Canada. Such trees are the 
black spruce (the balsam), striped and spiked maples, mountain sumac, 
which is really an apple, balsam-fir and aspen, all unless sheltered by 
other trees or by the slopes of the mountain above them, rugged and 
dwarfed from the cold and constant wind to which they are exposed. 

Between these extremes, lie the commercial forest trees nurtured 
under no such adverse conditions. Some of these trees have wide dis- 
tribution to the north of this State or to the south of it, or in both 



70 A SKprrcii of north Carolina. 

directions, and some of them are restricted in their distribution to 
North Carolina or to the region around the Southern Appalachian 
Mountains. 

In the Coastal Region, the pond pine, the great tupelo, barren willow 
oaks, fork-leafed black-jack, over-cup and laurel oaks, are trees which 
extend farther to the south. The same is true of the long-leaf and loblolly 
(North Carolina) pines, the first of which trees can be worked for tur- 
pentine longer in this than an}' other State, and the latter forms here 
more compact forests and reaches a larger size than elsewhere. The 
southwestern red oak and water bitter-nut hickory (rice field hickory), 
trees common in the lower Mississippi valley, occur sparingly in this 
State. The mossy cup, yellow and shingle oaks, white linden and 
big shag-bark hickory, prominent trees of the central States, extend as 
far to the southeast as central North Carolina; while trees of the north 
like hemlock, sugar or hard maple, northern red oak, cherry, birch and 
white pine, and of the northeast, like the pignut hickory, chestnut, 
northern pitch pine and balsam enter more or less largely into the 
composition of the forests of the western parts of the State. 

Many trees of wide distribution, and among them some of the 
most valuable, extend from this State in all directions, the white, 
post, black, scarlet and Spanish oaks, the red and white maples, the 
white hickory anfl brown heart and shag-bark hickories, short-leaf 
pine, yellow poplar, red cedar, black cherry, and black walnut, The 
cypress, water and willovi/' oaks, downy poplar, sv/amp-white oak 
(Q. Michauxii, Nutt. ) Southern elm, and planer trees are trees having 
a great range to the south and southwest. A few trees are found only 
in this State, or extend but a short distance beyond its boundaries, the 
yelloAv-wood, the large-leafed umbrella tree, the Carolina hemlock, the 
clammy locust, the last being entirely confined to this State. 

Altogether there are 153 kinds of woody plants, which form a 
simple upright stem and attaining aboi-escent proportions growing 
naturally within the State; and of these over seventy are trees of the 
first size, and fifty-seven are trees of great economic value. Fourteen 
of these are known to attain in this State a height of over 100 feet, 
three of them a height of over 140 feet, sixteen of them reach in this 
State diameters of five feet or over; and five reach diameters of seven 
feet or over. The largest and finest specimens of individual develop- 
m.ent are to be found in the extreme eastern and western regions in 
places where the soils are not only deep and fertile, but where the 
greater part of the growing season it remains moist or at least mellow. 
Such conditions are furnished by the lower slopes of the higher 
mountains, particularly the northern slopes and by many of the swamps 
of the Coastal Region. 

THE TIMBER TREES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Pinus palustris. Mill., the long-leaf pine, occurs commercially in 
the fifteen counties of the Coastal Region lying south of the Ncuse 
River, where it is found on the driest and moist soils unmixed with 
other trees, or on better soils with a lower story beneath the pine of 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 71 

dogwood and small post and Spanish oaks, the oaks being suitable for 
cross ties. From this pine, by boxing it, that is removing a thin 
layer of the sap-wood so that the resin contained in the tree may exude 
and be caught in a hole or "box" cut in the trunk of the tree near its 
base, crude turpentine, as the resin is called, is obtained. By the dis- 
tillation of the crude turpentine, spirits of turpentine is gotten as the 
volatile part, while rosin is the residue left in the retort. 

Pinus taeda, L. , the loblolly pine, occurs from the coast as far 
Avest as Granville and Anson Counties. The wood is coarser grained 
than that of the long-leaf pine and is especially suitable for paneling, 
wainscotting, and ceiling It also makes excellent flooring for build- 
ings when rift sawed as it does not sliver. 

Pinus echinata. Mill., the short-leaf pine or yellow pine, as it is 
usually called in this State, occurs throughout the Piedmont forestral 
region, and south of the French Broad River in the Mountain Region. 
The wood is yellow, soft, rather light, even grained and easy to work 
and is largely used as a building material wherever the tree occurs. 
It is sawn for shipment but not to so lar^ an extent as either of the 
pines previously described. 

Four other pines occur in North Carolina; one in the Coastal Region, 
Pinus serotina, Mx. , the Savanna pine, and three in the Piedmont and 
Mountain Regions, Pinus Viginiana, Mill., the cedar or scrub pine P. 
rigida, the northern pitch pine, and P. pungens, Michx, f. , the Table 
Mountain pine. These are sometimes sawn into lumber, but the trees 
are small or not common, so the wood is little used. 

Pinus, strobus L. , the white pine, occurs along and near the Blue 
Ridge and over local areas to the west of it. It is locally used for 
building and especially for making shingles and box lumber. 

Taxedinum, distichum Rich. , the cypress, is one of the largest trees of 
Eastern America. It grows along the margins of streams or in swamps, 
and reaches its largest size in swamps along and near the coast, too deep 
for these trees to reach their largest dimensions. The timber is 
peculiarly suitable for shingles, doors, sashes and exterior trimming, 
and a large amount is manufactured in this State for such purposes. 
Much is also sawn for boat and tank plank, buckets, tubs, etc. On ac- 
count of its durability in contact with the soil, it is adapted for tele- 
graph and telephone poles, ties, posts, and similar uses. Taxodium 
distichum and imbricaria (Nutt. ) Ashe, is a smaller tree growing in 
ponds whioli dry up during summer. 

Juniperus Virginiana L. , the red cedar, is frequent throughout 
the State except in the higher mountains. 

Chamaecyparis thyoides, (L.),B. S. P. , the white cedar or juniper, 
occurs in swamps in the Coastal Region having a sandy or peaty soil in 
the eastern zone. It is largely used for wooden ware, shingles, tele- 
graph poles. 

Tsuga Canadensis, (L.), Carr. , the hemlock, is one of the largest 
trees in the State, being frequently over 100 feet high and sometimes 
as high as 140 feet. The most valuable part of the tree is the bark 
from which is obtained one of the best and most widely known tanning 
extracts. 



72 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Tsuga Caroliniana, Engel. , the Carolina hemlock, is a much 
smaller tree than the preceding and while resembling it some in gen- 
eral appearance, instead of having its height, graceful aspect, is stiffer 
and looks more like a spruce or fir. The bark has tanning properties 
similar to those of the true hemlock. Both of these trees are known 
under the local name of spruce pine. 

Picca Mariana, (Mill.) P. S. , B. , the black spruce or the balsam 
as it is called in the mountains of the State where it occurs, is found 
along many of the high mountains, forming on them dense sombre 
forests. 

Abies Fraseri, Pursh, the Carolina Balsam, is found on many of 
the highest mountain summits. The wood of this tree has considerable 
resonant properties, and is eminently suitable for the manufacture of 
sounding boards to musical instruments. 

Nine white oaks occur in North Carolina; seven of these are large 
trees, one is a medium sized tree, and one is a shrub. 

Quercus alba L. , the white oak, is decidedly the most valuable oak 
which occurs in this State. It occurs in every county but is most 
abundant in the Piedmont region, though it reaches its largest size 
on the lower slopes of the mountains where however above an elevation 
of 3,000 feet it seldom occurs. In contact with the soil it is one of 
the most durable woods and cross ties made from it last from seven to 
eight years. Some rims are made from it and a great many felloes 
and wagon spokes. Quarter-sawed to show the silver grain, it is used 
for furniture and office finishing. Its bark is considered one of the 
best for tanning and it is largely used for that. When the wood is 
to be bent or split young and vigorous trees are preferred as being 
more elastic and tougher, many barrel staves being split from it, for 
which purpose it is preferred to the other oaks. 

Quercus monticola, Michx., the rock chestnut oak, is somewhat 
similar to the white oak in the qualities of its timber; but the wood is 
darker in color, harder and more difficult to work. This tree grows only 
in the upper districts, usually along dry ridges with 
various red oaks, and in such situations becomes only a medium sized 
oak tree; but along the foothills of the higher mountains, on a more 
fertile soil, individual specimens are often found five feet in diameter. 
This tree is rarely unsound, and for this reason is preferred to all the 
other inland oaks for ties and posts. The bark, which is gray, deeply 
furrowed and thick, is better than that of all the other eastern oaks for 
tanning and there are several tanneries in the western part of North Car- 
olina which are extensively using it. The supply in all of the higher 
mountain counties is large, as in none of these counties has bark ever 
been gathered. 

Quercus Michauxii, Nutt. , the swamp chestnut oak, and Q. lyrata 
Walt., the over-cup oak, are both found in the swamps of the Piedmont 
and Coastal Regions. It is well suited for furniture and panelling, and 
large numbers of white oak staves for the West Indies are made 
from it. 

Quercus minor, (Marsh.) Sarg. , the post oak, is very abundant 
on the dry soil throughout the Piedmont Region. In the Coastal, it is 




ROAN MOUNTAIX — HIGH BLUFF — EACI.E CLIFF — VIEW FROM ROAN. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 73 

frequently found on loamy soils, especially to the north of the Neuse 
River and in the mountanious region below an elevation of 2000 feet. 
It is especially suited for ties and posts on account of its small size 
and the durability of the wood in contact with the soil, where it will 
remain sound as long as that of the white oak. 

Quercus prinoides Willd. , the chinquapin oak, is a frequent shrub 
in the Piedmont Region. The three other arborescent white oaks, 
Quercus, prinoides acuminata, (Michx. ), Ashe, the yellow oak; Q. 
macrocarpa, Michx., the mossy cup oak; and Q. platanoides, (Lam.) 
Sud. , the swamp white oak, are infrequent trees occurring along 
streams in many parts of the State. 

There are nine kinds of red and ^^black oaks found in North Caro- 
lina. Of these only seven can be classed as timber trees and only the 
first five of those mentioned below are of economic importance in this 
State. 

Quercus rubra, L., the northern red oak, is common in the mountains 
along moist slopes or at a high elevation, even on dry ridges, and is 
found as far to the eastward as Wayne County along streams and on rich, 
cool hillsides. It is considered one of the best woods for furniture 
making, since it works easily, and takes a good polish. 

Quercus volutina. Lam. , the black oak, is a large tree 2 to 3 feet 
in diameter and 50 to 80 feet in height, found in nearly every county 
in North Carolina, but infrequent in the southeastern counties and 
around the higher mountains. The wood is not so even grained as 
that of the northern red oak, which it much resembles, but it is more 
easily worked and furniture manufacturers in the towns in the middle 
part of the State find it well suited for their requirements. 

Quercus volutina cocinea, (Wang.) Ashe, the scarlet oak, bears 
some resemblance to the black oak, but is a smaller tree in every way. 
In North Carolina it is usually called spotted oak, on account of its 
light gray bark with black stripes or spots on it near the base of the 
trunk. The wood is coarser grained and more brittle than that of the 
black oak and is not so highly valued. In many places, however, it is 
preferred for felys and for clapboards which when made from it are 
said ' ' to never wear out. ' ' 

Quercus digitata (Marsh), Suda. , the Spanish oak or northern red 
oak, is a large tree common in the Coastal Region on loamy soils and 
in the Piedmont Region, but not common in the mountainous. Most 
of the red oak staves made in the eastern part of the State are from the 
wood of this tree. 

Quercus digitata pago daefolia, (Ell.), Ashe, the swamp red oak, is 
a tree having a general resemblance to the Spanish oak, but it occurs 
only on the margins of streams in the Piedmont and Coastal Regions. 
The wood is similar to that of the Spanish oak, and is put to the same 
uses. 

Quercus Texana, Burkley, and Q. palustris, Duroi, are red oaks 
found along the streams in the Piedmont Plateau Region. 

Quercus Catesbaei, Michx., the forked leaf black-jack and Q. Mary- 
landiaa, Meunch. , the black-jack oak, are common on poor land in the 
Piedmont and Coastal Regions ot the State, the first being confined to 
sandy soil in the latter region. 



74 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



There are four water and willow oaks in North Carolina. None of 
them are large trees and all have wood coarse grained and porous and 
liable to check in drying. 

Quercus aquatica, (Lam.), Walt., the water oak, and Q. phellos 
L. , the willow oak, are found throughout the eastern half of the 
State along and near water courses. 

Quercus laurifolia, Michx. , the laurel leaved oak, occurs only along 
and near the coast. Its foliage is evergreen, or nearly so. The wood 
is somewhat better than that of the water oak and the tree is usually 
larger. 

Quercus Virginiana, Mill., the live oak, is a large tree found 
only along the coast. It is short bodied, the trunk rarely being over 
ten feet long, but becomes four or five feet in diameter. The wood is 
very dark and is susceptible to a fine polish, but is difiicult to work 
and is heavier than that of any other of the oaks of the eastern United 
States. 

Castnea sativa Americana, W. and C. , the chestnut, is one of the 
largest trees in North Carolina, reaching frequently a diameter of seven 
or eight feet. It makes a g'ood polish and is suitable for cabinet work 
and interior finishing. On account of its durability it is largely used 
for ties, telegraph posts and fence rails. 

Fagus ferruginea. Ait., the beech, is a medium sized tree occurring 
along the streams or on wet hillsides throughout the State. The wood 
of the beech is compact, and difficult to split; in color it is nearly 
white. It is used for making shoe lasts and tool handles. 

Betula lutea, Michx., the yellow birch, is very abundant in the 
cool, moist hollows of the higher mountains where it reaches a dia- 
meter of four or five feet. Its white Avood is frequently wavy grained 
or curly and is largely manufactured into veneering for pianos and 
furniture. 

Betula lenta, L. , the cherry birch, is more frequent in the mountains 
than the preceding tree. The wood, light red in color and susceptible 
of a fine polish, is sawn in many places on the mountains and used in 
furniture making, for which it is well suited. From the bark is dis- 
tilled birch oil, used as a substitute for wintergreen in flavoring. 
^ Betula nigra, L. , the black birch, is a small tree, with a porous coarse 
grained wood, very common along streams in most parts of the State. 
The wood is well suited for the manufacture of trucking barrels and 
crates. 

The two most common ashes in the State are Fraxinus Americana 
L. , the white ash, and F. Pennsylvanica, Marsh, the green ash, the first 
being found along water courses in all parts of the State, and the latter 
in the Piedmont and Coastal Regions. 

F. Caroliniana Mill., the water ash, is a small tree growing in deep 
swamps in the eastern part of the State. 

Robinia pseudacacia, L. , the yellow locust, is a forest tree, confined 
to the mountains, where, on rich slopes, it becomes a fir 80 feet high 
and 3 feet in diameter. The firm wood, which is. very durable, is 
largely used for pins, posts, treenails, and in turnery. 

Prunus serotina, Ehrh., the wild black cherry, is found through- 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 75 

out North Carolina, but it is only on the cool slopes of the higher 
mountains that it becomes large enough to be considered a timber 
tree. The beautiful reddish wood is extensively used for making fur- 
niture. 

Liquidamba stryciflua. L., the s'.veet gum, reaches a height of 100 
and a diameter of 5 feet and ranks among the largest trees. The red 
or brown wood takes a fine polish, and is used to some extent in the 
making of furniture and for flooring. In the form of veneer it is largely 
used for making packing boxes, ci'ates and truck barrels. 

Three elms occur in North Carolina, Ulmus Americana, L. , the 
white elm; U. alata, Michx., the Southern elm; and U. fulva, Michx., 
the slippery elm. The white elm is the largest and most abundant of 
these trees. It is found in the swamps in the Piedmont and Coastal 
Regions where it becomes a large sized tree. Except for making 
hubs and fruit crates the timber is put to but few uses. 

Platanus occidentalis, L.. the sycamore or button wood, is a large 
tree, becoming six feet through, found along streams in all parts of the 
State. The strong heavy wood is used for making boxes for plug 
tobacco, and quarter sawed, when it shows a beautifully marked grain, 
for panels for furniture and interior finish. When turned into veneer 
it shows handsome markings and in this form is used in house finish- 
ing. 

Juglans cinerea, L. , the butternut or white walnut, is not a very 
common tree even in the mountain counties where it occurs most fre- 
quently. The light brown wood is sometimes used for furniture 
making. 

Juglans nigra, L., the black walnut, grows in all parts of the State 
along streams or in the mountains on rich cool hillsides. In the Pied- 
mont and Coastal P^egions there are few trees remaining except around 
dwellings and along fence rows, but a great many are yet standing in 
the mountain counties. Trees have been cut in the mountains four 
feet in diameter and seventy feet to the lowest limb, but the average 
diameter is not over two feet with a large stem of 40 or 50 feet. It is 
a tree of rapid growth and would well repay extensive planting. 

Hicoria aquatica (Michx. f.) Brit, the rice field hickory and H. 
minima, (Marsh) Brit., the bitteimut hickory, are found along water 
courses or in moist places, the first only in the southeastern part of 
the State and the last throughout. H. alba, (L.) Brit., the white 
heart hickory, is one of the most common kinds and although it does 
not become as large a tree as the others, has wood of a superior quality, 
being very elastic and tough. It is preferred to the others particularly 
for buggy spokes and rims, tool handles and hoops. The other kinds, 
are however, largely used for these purposes when the white-heart cannot 
be obtained. H. laciniosa (Michx.,) Sarg.,the great shag-bark, is found 
at intervals through the middle part of the State. 

Hicoria ovata, (mill.) Brit., the shag- bark hickory is a large and valu- 
able tree found along streams and on rich hillsides through the Piedmont 
Region and to a less extent in the mountains. The brown wood splits 
exceedingly straight and easily and for this reason it is considered ex- 
cellent for hoops. H. odorata. (':\rar^h'i. Sarg. . the red heart hickory. 



"J^) A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

is the common large upland hickory. The wood is considered scarcely 
inferior to that of the white heart hickory and is put to the same uses. 

There are two species of Tilia or linden, whitewood or basswood of 
the north, which are abundant enough to be of economic value. 
These are the linden and the white linden, both abundant in the 
mountains. The wood of both is white and soft, and is used for ceil- 
ing, in furniture and buggy manufacture. It also makes good wood 
pulp. Aesculus octandra. Marsh., the buckeye, has soft wood suitable 
for ceiling and such uses. It reaches in the mountains a large size, 
four feet in diameter and eighty feet high, and is abundant there. 

There are four large maples in North Carolina. The red maple. 
Acer rubrum, L. , is the most frequent met and is the only one in any 
part of the Coastal Region. The wood, nearly white, is softer than 
that of the other species, and is sawn for the finishing of interior of 
cars. 

The Acer barbatum, Michx. , the sugar or rock maple, is as abun- 
dant in the mountain counties as the red maple in the eastern; it is 
found to some extent in the middle counties and sparingly in the east- 
ern. The wood is light brown and hard. The bird's eye and curly 
forms of it are frequently met with. The black maple, Acer nigrum, 
Michx., is an infrequent tree confined to the mountains. Acer sac- 
charinum, L. ,the white maple, or hard maple as it is sometimes called, 
is a large tree with wood something like that of the sugar maple. It 
is confined to the western part of the State. 

Liriodendron tulipifera, L. , the yellow poplar, attains its largest 
dimensions in North Carolina, where in the mountain counties 
it grows to a height of 120 feet or over, with a diameter breast 
high, of seven or eight feet. It is found, however, throughout the 
State and is largely used for building material, furniture, making 
packing boxes, crates and wood pulp. Magnolia auminata, L. , the 
cucumber tree, a large tree found frequently in the mountains, has 
wood similar to that of the yellow poplar and applicable to the same 
uses. 

Hardwood trees, like dog- wood, persimmon, iron wood and hornbeam 
are frequent in all parts of the State, and the same can be said of 
sassafras and black gums. 



FAUNA. 

THE distribution of animal life in North America has been divided 
into seven life zones. In the sense as used above a life zone is an 
area of country throughout which the animal and vegetable life is 
comparatively homogenous, and as such distribution of life is chiefly de- 
pendent on equalities of temperature, and as isothermal lines must run 
more or less parallel with the equator, these areas of country inhabited 
by living things of similar kinds are necessarily more or less in the form 
of belts traversing the country from east to west. 

The two most northern of these divisions are not represented in our 
native fauna. They are the Arctic and Hudsonian zones. The former 




ON FRENXH BROAD RIVER — SOUTHERN KAIl.WAV, 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 'J'J 

lies north of the northern limit of tree growth and the latter embraces 
the vast spruce forests of Labrador, crossing the continent to Alaska. 
The Canadian zone takes in the northern part of New England, 
New Brunswick, Quebec and northern Ontario, the southern part of 
Newfoundland, and extends across the continent to the valley of the 
Yotikon, in Alaska, and, in spite of our southern situation, the fauna 
of this zone occurs in North Carolina along the crests of the Blue Ridge 
and the Great Smoky Mountains. The boundaries of this division 
with us are, of course, determined by the altitude, the lower limit 
being about 4,500 feet, (see Brewster, on Birds of Western North Carolina 
"Auk," Jan. 1886). Of animals belonging to this fauna and having 
a range to the far north but occurring in this State, may be mentioned 
the red squirrel, the "Boomer" of our mountains. Among the summer 
birds are the Carolina snowbird, mountain solitary vireo, Blackburnian 
warbler, winter wren, redbreasted nuthatch, etc. It is a remarkable 
feature of North Carolina animal life that a stretch of country lying 
between the parallels 34 degrees and 37 degrees, as this State does, 
should possess among its native animals and birds species that belong 
naturally to a fauna characteristic of the great forest of Canada and 
that reaches on its northren border to beyond 60 degrees of north lati- 
tude. But to this great degree does the altitude of our mountain peaks 
modify their southern position. 

With its upper limit coincident with the lower limit of the Cana- 
dian, we next come to the transition zone. This seems to be a region 
in which a mingling of southern and northern forms of life is evident 
although its characeristic life is sufficiently well defined to admit of its 
recognition as a faunal division. Among the notable animals belonging 
to this fauna was, in olden times, the elk or wapiti (Cervus Canaden- 
sis), noble herds of which ranged the mountain sides and valleys of the 
western region of the Old North State. But that was long ago, and 
unless reintroduced and afterwards protected, they will never range 
those mountains sides again. Here also we find that queer animal, the 
star-nosed mole, which is found even to the northern limit of the Can- 
adian zone. Among the summer birds are Wilson's thrush, yellow- 
throated viero, rose-breasted grosbeak. We also find such southern 
species of birds as orioles, catbird, brown thrasher, and such animals as 
common mole and cotton tail rabbit mingling with the above. The 
lower limit of this fauna Mr. Brewster places at about 2,500 feet, but 
it must be understood that the boundaries of none of these divisions are, 
or can be, very sharply defined, as there is necessarily a great overlap- 
ping of species from one to the other and this overlapping and mix- 
ing of the life belonging to one zone into that of another varies very 
much with individual localities. That celebrated weather prophet, 
the woodchuck or groundhog, belongs here and is by no means uncom- 
mon in suitable localities in western North Carolina. 

Next we come to the zone that covers a greater amount of the 
State area than any other — namely, the upper austral. This is not a 
projecting spur from more northerly zones running down into the 
State only by way of the mountain ranges, as were the two former, 
but is more especially a fauna of the Piedmont Plateau Region and of 



78 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the western border of the Coastal Plain Region of the State. It is dis- 
tinctivel)' Carolinian in its character. The opossum, the gray fox, the 
fox squirrel are animals characeristic of this division, and among the 
birds we find such well known forms as Carolina wren, cardinal or 
red bird, gnatcatcher and mockingbird. The cotton tail rabbit is a 
common and inextinguishable characteristic feature here, and pretty 
much the same might be said of our chipper and lively little Bob 
White, — our partridge in spite of what the "quail" hunters call him. 

Beginning near the coast at the extreme northeast corner of the 
State, running southward and westward and gradually widening on its 
way down as latitude modifies altitude, we find a strip of country con- 
taining life features much more tropical in character than those previous- 
ly considered. This is the northern corner of the lower austral zone. 
This zone includes the whole of the South Atlantic coast region, a 
wide expanse of country bordering the northern shores of the Gulf of 
Mexico and the whole of Florida with the exception of its extreme 
southern coast line. The alligator now begins to show himself and is 
plentiful and attains a large size along the southern half of our tide- 
water region. Several species of the smaller rodents belong to this 
zone, notably the cotton rat, rice field rat and wood rat, and the marsh 
rabbit reaches the northern limit of his range on the coast marshes of 
North Carolina. The peculiar big-eared bat is found along with the 
above, and the change in bird life is as noticeable as that in mammals. 
The chuck- wills-widow takes the place of the whippoorwill, and this 
zone was formerly brightened by the presence in North Carolina of the 
gaudy and noisy Carolina paroquet, now, unfortunately, almost con- 
fined to southern Florida. The great and rare ivorj'-billed woodpecker 
was also a former example of this life division within our borders, 
found on the coast at least as far north as Beaufort harbor, but his 
day has also, apparently, gone by. Those interesting creatures the 
ground and diamond rattlesnakes also come in here, and the cotton- 
mouth water moccasin is their equal as an awe-inspiring upper austral 
representative. Siren and amphiuma, the latter also called mud eel, 
congo eel and poison- eel are two water animals quite characteristic of 
this zone, their habitat being chiefly in the sluggish streams and 
ditches of the tidewater region of the State. The great brown pelican 
and the swift and graceful swallow tailed kite are both features of this 
division of animal life and the black vulture, that very useful but not 
beautiful bird that seems equally at home in the pure ether a thousand 
fathoms above the earth or in the dark and odorous interior of a dead 
mule, is always with us. 

Economically, apart from the scientific value of a knowledge of 
the life areas of the State as showing their adaptability for the various 
crops, the fauna of North Carolina is of vast importance. Thousands 
— nay, tens of thousands — of our citizens are directly dependent on 
the products of our waters for their living while every farmer, fruit 
grower and trucker in the State depends in a great degree on the proper 
control of the pestilent insect fauna of the country for his success in 
his line of work. Another feature in the business prosperity of the 
State dependent on our animal life, is the amount of money distributed 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 70 

within our borders by the visiting sportsmen from other sections who 
come here to hunt and fish. 

By a careful study of conditions necessary for a proper protecting of 
the game and by treating the wild animal life as the valuable asset 
that it really is, this game interest may be made a veritable gold mine 
with us here as the State of Maine makes hers now. 

But enough of this brief sketch; it will have served its purpose if 
it is even the remote cause of a wider knowledge of and an increase in 
the investigation of our native fauna and some intelligent application 
of such knowledge. 



FLORA. 



THE flora of any region includes the indigenous or native plants, 
and such foreign species as have been introduced and show their 
ability to maintain themselves without cultivation. The speci- 
fic constitution of a flora depends firstly upon the climate, and secondly 
upon the geology of a district A third modifying force is composed 
of numerous smaller factors of less importance than either of the above, 
but which in the aggregate amount to a very considerable influence. 
Among such factors we may enum.erate the following: (1) Age and 
condition of civilization. (2) Density of population. (3) Methods 
of agriculture. (4) Presence or absence of trunk-line railroads and 
long navigable streams. 

The total number of distinct species of plants usually growing 
within a circle of twenty-five miles diameter, in a fertile and well va- 
ried district, is from 1,000 to 1,200, not including microscopic fungi, 
lichens and algoe. 

The great naturalist, Humboldt, classifies vegetation as directly 
affecting landscape, and indirectly human character, into sixteen forms 
representing as many kinds of climate. First, there is the palm form 
characteristic of the moist hot climate of the tropics. Associated 
with this, we usually find the banana which furnishes the chief sub- 
sistence of the languid natives of torrid climes. The mallow form — 
most familiar to us in the swamp hibiscus, the garden, althea and 
holly-hock, and among economic plants, cotton and okra, is character- 
istic of a warm, moist climate. The mimosa form — trees with light 
green pinnate leaves like the black locust — is characteristic of a 
climate cooler and drier than that in which the mallow form luxuriates. 
The pine form, including all cone-bearing evergreens, is characteristic 
of a cold, temperate climate. The aerial orchid form is tropical as 
are also large leaved herbaceous plants such as the caladium and arum. 
The trailing form, or vines, is most common in the climate where the 
mallow form is at home. Ferns, sedges and grasses possess power of 
adaptation greater than other plant families, but we find these most 
luxuriant in the torrid zone where grasses become tall, woody bamboos 
and ferns become trees. 

The State of North Carolina lies between the parallels 33 degrees 
50 minutes and 36 degrees 33 minutes of north latitude. Its eastern 



^O A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

side, 187X miles long, is waslied by the Atlantic Ocean, its furtherest 
western extension is 503X miles inland, the average elevation above the 
sea level is 640 feet. The highest point is Mitchell's Peak, 6,888 feet. 
Climatically, about two-thirds of the State belongs to the northern or 
temperate type, and the remainder to the southern or sub-tropical 
type. The State is divided by geological causes into three well- 
marked districts each having a distinct and different flora. The 
Coastal Plain Region consists of a low, sandy plain of about 150 miles 
in width, which in comparatively recent times, geologically speaking, 
has emerged from the sea. Extensive swamps fringe the coast along 
its whole extent. 

The long leaf or Southern pine — Pinus Australis, Mx. , is the pre- 
dominant growth, with the loblolly pine — Pinus taeda, Mx. and scrub 
oak Quercus Catesbaei as secondary factors. The herbaceous gro wth 
is chiefly wire grass — Aristida sticta, Mx, and A. purpurea, Mx. 
Plants of the composite or aster family abound in their seasons, the 
most common genera being Chrysopsis, Silphium, Aster, Peterocaulon, 
Helianthus and Liatris. Leguminous plants, chiefly Lupinus. 
Tephrosia and Stylosanthes abound, but as a whole the drier portion 
of this region is very poor in species. Along streams, ' ' branches' ' 
as they are called, we find a more luxuriant growth. Here, in addi- 
tion to the above species, we find among trees and shrubs oaks of 
many species, Sour Gum, Nyssa aquatica L. ; Sweet Bay, Gordonia 
Lasianthus, L; and its close relative Stuartia Virginiea, Cav. — both of 
which belong to the camellia and tea family. The "he-huckleberry," 
Cyrilla racemiflora, Walt., abounds and the great bay. Magnolia 
grandiflora, L. , comes almost to the Cape Fear River. 

The palmettoes, Sabal Palmetto, R. & S. and S. Adansonii,Guerns, 
come as far North as the Cape Fear River. Among under-shrubs, 
the most common genera are the blue-berries, Vaccinium and Gaylussa- 
cia; stagger bushes, Andromeda; sumachs and related genera; the 
spice bush, Clethra; button bush, Cephalanthus; yopon. Ilex; alder, 
Alnus; pepper bush, Itea, and Jersey tea, Ceanothus. Among the 
climbing vines, we find in profusion the grape Vitis, four species; 
Smilax, seven species; Clematis, two species; Virginia creeper, 
trumpet flower, Tecoma; cross vine, Bignonia; Carolina jessamine; 
wild ginger, Decumaria; and passion flower, Passiflora incaranta. L. 
The Southern cane grasses, Arundinaria gigantea and A. tecta, cover 
the banks of streams to the nearly complete exclusion of other species 
of this family. 

In the swamps the prevailing trees are the bald cypress, Taxodium 
distichum. Rich, and white cedar, Cupressus thyoides, L. Along the 
coast, live oak Quercus virens, L. occurs. All of these trees within 
the influence of tide water are apt to be covered by the abundant fes- 
toons of the southern long moss, Tillandsia usneoides, L., which is not 
a moss at all, but an epiphytic plant closely related to the pine apple. 
We find in wet and boggy situations Saggitaria, Aletris, Tofieldia, 
Zigadenus, Lachnanthes, Pleea, Xyris, and the very rare spoon-flower, 
Xanthosma saggitifolia, Schott. Here also we find quite a variety of 
interesting carnivorous plants. The most celebrated of these is the 




FALLS OX QUEENS CREEK RAPIDS — NANTAHALA RIVER. 



A SKETCH OF XORTH CARfJLINA. 8 1 



Venus fly-trap, Dionaea muscipula, Ellis. This does not occur north 
of the Neuse River nor much below the southern boundary of the State. 
It is most abundant around Wilmington. Besides Dionaea we find 
five species of carnivorous pitcher plants, viz. Sarracenia rubra, Walt. ; 
S. variolaris, Mx. ; S. flava, L. ; S. purpurea, L. ; and a doubtful spe- 
cies, S. Drommondii, Croom, near the South Carolina line. There 
are also four species of sundew, Drosera filiformis, Raf ; D. longifolia, 
L; D. rotundifolia L. ; and D. brevifolia, Ph. ; Pinguicula lutea, Walt; 
and P. elatior, Mx. together with the closely related bladderworts, 
Utricularia inflata. Walt; U. vulgaris, L; U. subulata, L. and U. 
cornuta. Mx. complete the list of carnivorous or insect eating 
plants found in this district. In like places we find a great abundance 
of bull-rushes, Juncus, 10 species; cat- tails, 2 species; sedges, includ- 
ing about 18 genera and 110 species. Of grasses, besides the canes, 
Paspalum, 10 species; Panicum, 25 to 27 species; Uniola, 3 species; 
Andropogon, 7 species; Erianthus, 2 species; Elymus, 2 species; Aris- 
tidia, 5 to 6 species; Sporobolus, 3 species; Leersia, 4 species and Zi- 
zania, 2 species. 

The upland regions have been more thoroughly cultivated than 
either of the others, and the result is that the indigenous growth has 
been here largely destroyed or supplanted by introduced species. 
This is a country of rolling red clay uplands. Cotton, tobacco, grasses 
and cereal grains are the chief stav^'es. Oaks, hickories and elms are 
the predominating trees with short leaf pine — Pinus mitis Mx. on the 
ridges separating the water sheds of different streams. The flora is a 
mixture of the flora of the eastern and western districts with a very 
large per cent, of introduced species familiar to dwellers in the Mid- 
dle States and Europe. 

The Mountain Region of the State includes the foot hills and all 
the valleys and domes of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains. This 
region has been until comparatively recent date quite inaccessible, and 
hence the original growth is still everywhere to be seen. The pre- 
dominating forest growths are oaks, hickories, black-walnut, chestnut, 
cherry, white poplar (Liriodendron), magnolias — five species, in val- 
leys; and white-pine, white spruce, hemlock spruce and balsam fir oh 
the higher peaks. On the middle terraces birches, limes, elms, ashes, 
maples, and willows complete the very northern forest flora. In this 
case the high altitude gives us a climate equivalent to that which high 
latitude gives to more northern States, and the forest growth partakes 
of the same character. The undergrowth, both shrubby and herba- 
ceous, is however, very different from the corresponding flora of north- 
ern climes. Here beneath a characteristically northern forest growth 
we find a typical southern undergrowth. Besides the gorgeous flowers 
of the semi-shrubby magnolias, we find in profusion the even more 
striking bloom of the rhododendrons, of v.'hich there are eight native 
species. Here is the original home of the Rhododendron catawbiense, 
Mx. the parent of our finest cultivated rhododendrons. Of kalmia or 
"calico bush" there are three species, and related genera of the Erica- 
ceous family almost too numerous to mention. 

Cranberry bogs are frequent. Stuartia pentagyna. spirers of sev- 
eral species, hydrangea, two species, and Viburnum, eight species, are 



82 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



very abundant. The service berry — Amelanchier, is much esteemed 
for its fruit. This is usually obtained by cutting down the tree 
which here grows 25 to 30 feet high. Among the climbers are grapes, 
three species; trumpet flower; Virginia creeper; honey-suckle, three 
species; smilax or green brier, three species; moon seed, (Menisper- 
mum) ; poison sumach; Decumaria barbata, L. ; wild ginger or dutch- 
man's pipe, Aristolochia sipho, L'Her, and Virgin's bower Clematis, 
two species. 

The herbaceous growth is particularly rich in composite plants, 
Nearly all the Northern and most of the southern species of aster and 
solidago, or golden rod, abound. In early summer travelers by rail- 
road often pass for miles through lands thickly covered by the bright 
yellow flowers of Senecio aureus, L, var. tomentosus, Mx, supplanted 
later in the season by Bidens and Coreopsis. In cool moist spots vio- 
lets abound in great profusion. Fifteen species are found, all of 
which grow to an unusual size. On rocky cliffs we find plants of the 
saxifrage family everywhere. The most common genera are Saxifraga, 
five species, Astilbe; Heuchera, five species, Tiarella and Mitella. The 
pink family is represented by Silene, five species; Alsine, three spe- 
cies; Spergula and Paronychia. The beautiful evergreen, round 
leaved, Galax aphylla, L. is fairly common. The long lost and much 
sought for plant Shortia galacifolia. Gray, has been found in several 
places. Lily of the valley; terrestrial orchids, Lilium, three species; 
Trillium, five species; Acorus, Oront'um and Arisaema are all very 
common. The partridge berry, Mitchell ia; and liver leaf, Hepatica 
with various grasses and ferns form the ground carpet. 

At the cryptogam ic flora of the State, we can only glance. Of 
ferns our flora numbers 38 to 40 species. Ground pine, (Lycopodium.) 
ten species; liver- worts, 70 to 75 species; mosses, about 200 species; 
lichens, about 220 species; algae and sea-iveeds, about 50 species; 
fungi, 2,500 species, of which more than 100 species are edible mush- 
rooms. 

The total number of species of plants recorded from this State is 
about 5,500, but as the cryptogams have not been very exhaustively 
investigated, it is likely that the number of recorded species will 
eventually exceed 6,000. 

No State in the Union, nor any country of similar area anywhere, 
can show a flora which contains a greater number of indigenous plants 
of high economic value. From early colonial days until very recently 
North Carolina has been the chief source of the yellow pine lumber and 
naval stores consumed in or exported from the United States. This 
business has now, however, passed to virgin forests further south, 
Our swamp lands still yield largely of cedar, cypress, gum and similar 
valuable timbers. Our mountains still contain vast quantities of the 
most valuable hard-wood suitable for furniture and cabinet work. 
This State has for years furnished the main supply of the sweet chest- 
nuts sold in the stores — the spontaneous product of our mountain 
slopes. 

For decades North Carolina has been the chief source of the na- 
tional supply of crude vegetable drugs. This industry has reached 
an extension and volume which few outside the medical and pharma- 




UCIU.NEECHEE FARM SCENES. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 83 



ceutical professions appreciate. The number of distinct species of 
important medical plants found growing wild in this State is about 
seven hundred. 



AGRICULTURE IN NORTH CAROLINA. 



A State occupying the geographical position of North Carolina and 
stretching from the high mountains of the west down the sunny 
slope to the sea, where her coast extends further out towards the 
Gulf Stream than any point north of Florida, will naturally possess a'great 
range of soils and climates. On the northwest we find the high mountain 
valleys and plateaus where the fir, hemlock and white pines of the 
north flourish, and on the lower coast the live oak and the palmetto 
give a semi-tropical appearance to the landscape. This variation in 
climate is of course accompanied by a wonderful variation in soils 
and products. In the short seasons of the elevated valleys of the north- 
western part of the State it needs a quick maturing corn like that of 
Canada to make the crop, while in the southeast corner the ribbon cane 
of Louisiana flourishes, and great rice plantations border the rivers. 

Extending for a hundred miles or more inland from the coast we 
find the great level coast plain, with a soil generally of a sandy or 
alluvial nature. Included in this area are great stretches of black 
peaty soil of inexhaustible fertility, and vast unreclaimed swamps 
which some day will be drained and become like Egypt in productive- 
ness. 

The farm crops of the coast plain are cotton, corn and tobacco. 
Only in recent years has the great capacity of the soil of this region 
for the productioii of the gold leaf tobacco been fully realized, and it 
has now become the most important crop over large sections of the more 
sandy country. Many years ago the late Edmund Ruffin wrote a book 
on Eastern North Carolina in which he said that he thought the coast 
plain was destined to be the greatest stock country on the Atlantic 
coast because of the wonderful profusion of the native grasses. From 
that time down the farmers in this favored region have been trying 
to kill the grass in order to grow cotton, while the grass with live 
stock would have made them rich. But a change is gradually taking 
place and the farmers here and there are beginning to realize their 
error and are devoting more attention to stock. 

The black moist lands of the eastern section have been largely used 
for the cultivation of upland rice, and the crop has considerable com- 
mercial importance, and could be developed to a much greater extent 
since the plant thrives there wonderfully well. But with the great 
profusion with which grass grows on these lands, and the capacity of 
the soil and climate for the growth of the cow pea and other forage 
plants the feeding of good beef cattle should become a leading interest 
in the coast plain. 

The greatest development in the coast region has been in market 
gardening and small fruit culture, of which we v.-ill speak elsevrhere. 



84 A SKIiTCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The level and mellow character of the soil and the mild climate are 
conditions which should make this favored region the agricultural 
paradise of the South when once the farmers realize their advantages 
and farm the land in a systematic manner. The warm and mellow soil 
responds at once to manures and fertilizers, and the forage crops that 
can be produced would excite the envy of the stock feeders of the west, 
and all right where cattle are sent abroad without crossing the conti- 
nent. We have named a few of the crops that are grown in the coast 
plain and should have added that in the northern part of the region 
the peanut crop is a very important and profitable one v/hen well 
grown. 

LOWER PIEDMONT. 

The first uplift of the land into a rolling upland constitutes what 
is known as the lower Piedmont country, a section in the central and 
more southern parts of which cotton has reigned king, and the im- 
provement of the soil has been largely neglected. In the northern 
part the culture of tobacco has been accompanied by a similar neglect 
of the improvement of the land. The results of the continuous culti- 
vation of the rolling uplands in cotton has been to cause them to wash 
and gully badly in many places. But when these hillsides are protected 
by terrace banks and the red sub-soil is loosened it is found that there 
is a rich and productive soil right beneath where the little cotton plow 
has been scratching the surface. 

Included in this region is the vast expanse of the long leaf pine 
country known as the Sand Hills. For generations this section was 
looked upon simply as a place to get lumber and turpentine. Of recent 
years it has been found that the climate and sandy soil were fav- 
orable to the recovery of patients suffering from throat and lung 
troubles, and many people from the north, finding that they could 
live in comfort there have settled permanently on the Sand Hills. 
Wishing to grow something, thejr soon discovered that the apparently 
barren soil had a capacity for the production of fruits that is vron- 
derfui when aided by commercial fertilizers. Grapes were the first of 
the fruits tried and they flourish better than anywhere else in the 
State. Then other fruits were tried and now the peach industry has 
developed to a great commercial enterprise and is growing annually in 
importance, and the Sand Hills will soon become the leading fruit 
region of the State. 

UPPER PIEDMONT. 

Stretching in an irregular way across the State from northeast to 
southwest is a scattered range of hills marking the line between the 
lower and upper Piedmont regions. These hills are known by various 
names, from North Southward, as Rougemont, Occoneechee, and 
Uwharrie Mountains. Along this line are most of the falls of the 
rivers making in many cases wonderful water-powers. East of this 
line of upland ridges the country seldom rises more than 500 feet above 
the sea level, while west of the hills the land rapidly rises in swelling 
uplands towards the Blue Ridge. The country extending from the line 



A SKETCH OK NORTH CAROLINA. 85 

of the Uwharrie and Occoneechee hills to the Blue Ridge constitute 
the great agricultural region of the State. In its northern part grain, 
grass, cattle and tobacco are the leading interests, and in its southern 
extension cotton still reigns supreme. From an elevation of 700 feet 
the country gradually rises to an elevation of 1,500 or more as the 
foothills of the Blue Ridge are reached. 

This whole rolling country was evidently designed to be a great 
grass, grain and stock region, and in some parts great crops of wheat 
have been grown, notably in Davidson county, where the late Governor 
Holt made over 46 bushels of wheat per acre over an eighty acre field. 
The most of the soil of this region is a red clay loam interspersed 
with areas of a gray soil with a yellow subsoil. Both characters of soil 
are well suited to the growing of grain and grass and the production 
of forage for stock feeding. The gray soils are the best tobacco land 
and produce a very fine quality of the yellow tobacco which brings a 
high price on the market. In the northwest portion of this upper 
Piedmont section a different kind of tobacco is grown for the making of 
plug tobacco. This cures a rich mahogany color and is in much 
demand. The largest nurseries in the State are in this section, in the 
neighborhood of Greensboro, and many thousands of fruit and orna- 
mental trees are there propagated and distributed. One of the most 
interesting smaller divisions of this section is a limited area in the 
upper part of Davie County, around the village of Farmington. There 
in an area of about ten miles square is a comjiaratively level soil of an 
inky black color, which seems to be especially adapted to grass. 
Wherever it is left uncultivated the soil naturally sods over with a 
great variety of the sweetest grasses, and here should be the finest stock 
farms of the State. As yet little is done there in this direction, 
though the land will make as rich a sward as the far famed blue grass 
country of Kentucky. This small area is evidently the bed of an 
aacient lake. Here and there in the Piedmont country attention is 
being paid to improved stock and to the dairy. One of the largest and 
most successful dairies in the State is that of Moore near the City of 
Charlotte, where from a very small beginning a milk trade of $10,000 a 
year has been established. In the county of Rockingham too, there is 
attention being paid to live stock and improved breeds of beef cattle have 
been introduced and are thriving, especially the Polled Angus breed. 
The whole of this region is adapted to the highest development of general 
agriculture, and there is a spirit of improvement abroad and an earnest 
desire to learn improved methods of farming. The great increase in 
the number of cotton factories all through this section of the State is 
giving a great impetus to the production of food crops for the popula- 
tion drawn from the farms and now centered about the mills. In the 
cotton growing section the farmers are slowly beginning to realize 
the importance of a diversified rotation of crops, and they are annu- 
ally growing more and more of food for man and beast. The cow pea, 
the "Clover of the South" is being more and more extensively grown 
both as a hay crop and a soil improver. The red soils of this section 
are of the same uniform character all the way down to the fast rock, 
and can be plowed as deep as a plow can be drawn, and farmers here and 



86 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



there are discovering this fact and are trying to develop the new farm 
that lies right below the scratch plowing of past generations. 

THE MOUNTAIN REGION. 

West of the Blue Ridge Mountains and extending to the Great 
Smoky Range on the Tennessee line, lies a wonderful region of high 
plateaus and fertile valleys watered with the clearest of streams, a natural 
paradise for the stockman, the dairyman and the sheep breeder. In 
addition to this it is the finest apple region of America, but as yet 
little developed in this line. In the elevated table lands of Henderson 
and Transylvania Counties, where by reason of the elevation the 
climate partakes more of the character of the Middle States north of 
us, there has of late years grown up a great business in gardening for 
the Southern market with such crops as late cabbage and potatoes that 
cannot so well be grown in the warm section of the South. Of thi.s 
development we will speak more in treating of the horticultural capa- 
blities of the State. More beef cattle are produced in the mountain 
country than in any other section of the State. This is particularly 
true of the counties of Ashe and Allegheny in the northern part of the 
mountain region, and it is also true of Macon County on the southern end 
of this section. The mountains through this region known as ' ' Balds* ' 
furnish a rich pasturage for large herds during the summer and the 
abundant grass crops of the valleys enables the stockman to feed large 
numbers for the Southern market. The openings for stock breeding 
and feeding and for dairying all through the mountain country 
are wonderful and as yet but poorly appreciated. This region could 
easily supply all the rest of the State wath the finest of beef and 
the best of butter, and yet there is little enterprise in this direction. 
This region is annually attracting great numbers of summer visi- 
tors from all parts of the country by reason of the magnificence 
of its natural scenery and the delightful coolness of the summer 
climate, and this influx of visitors will of itself make a home 
market for all the food products of the farm. Volumes have been 
written about this beautiful "Land of the Sky" and if the pro- 
posed National park is established, there will be thousaiids more of 
tourists attracted here and the feeding of the multitude should bring 
wealth to the cultivators of the soil. 

LEADING CROPS. 

Cotton. — "While the greater part of North Carolina is a little 
north of the true cotton belt, the State has nevertheless always pro- 
duced a large amount of the staple, and over a large section of the State 
cotton is the true money crop. This is particularly true of the Coastal 
Plain where soil and climate both favor the production of the crop. But 
the cotton farmers have as a rule been planters rather than farmers and 
have relied upon the getting of a crop by the use of commercial fertilizers 
rather than through the practice of a systematic rotation of crops for 
the improvement of the soil. With the low price of cotton of late years 
there has been more of an effort made to produce the food supplies of 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. By 

the farm and there is slowly growing up a disposition to diversify 
crops and to look to the improvement of the soil. There is hardly 
any land in the Coastal Plain especially, where the cotton crop could 
not by good farming and a proper rotation of crops be brought up to 
at least a bale per acre, while with the system, or rather the no 
system in vogue the product is far below this. It is said that the 
product of lint or the proportion of lint to seed is larger in North Car- 
olina than in any other State. Under the present methods of cul- 
tivation there is too much of a disposition to estimate the crop as so 
much to the mule rather than so much per acre of land. Of late years 
the cotton seed crop has attained a degree of importance it did not for- 
merly have. The establishment of oil mills all through the cotton 
growing section has enabled the growers to get profit out of the seed 
which they did not formerly realize. But this fact tends also to show 
the importance of good farming, for while the lint makes a light 
draft of the capacity of the soil the seed draw heavily on its store 
of plant food, and if they are sold off the farm they exhaust 
the soil very rapidly. The true method should be to exchange 
with the oil mills and get back the meal and hulls to return to the soil 
after feeding with other forage crops to stock, so that the manure can 
be returned to the land. At present large quantities of these are sent 
North and to foreign countries, while all should be retained in the 
South to prevent the exhaustion of the soils. * 

Tobacco. — No State in the country excels North Carolina in the pro- 
duction of fine tobacco for cigarette and plug manufacture. The culture 
was formerly confined on a large scale to the northern tier of counties of 
the Piedmont section but of late years it has extended into the Coastal 
Plain and that section has become the largest tobacco producing part of 
the State. The gold leaf tobacco of North Carolina has alv.-ays had a 
great reputation with smokers and formerly brought very high prices. 
Then there came a season of depression and the product was largely 
reduced. But the past season has witnessed a great revival in tobacco 
culture and better prices for the growers, and the coming season will 
see a great increase in the acreage all over the State. The growers of 
the bright tobacco have always had a notion that the crop will not asso- 
ciate with improved farming, and that if the land was too highly 
improved it will not produce fine tobacco. But some are beginning 
to realize that improved farming is just as possible with tobacco as 
with any other crop, and that land that is adapted to the production of 
a certain kind of tobacco will grow that kind no matter hov.' highly 
improved. The tobacco crop of North Carolina sells for more money 
than that of any other State in the country because of its superior 
quality for smoking purposes. The cigarette business of the world has 
been built upon the gold leaf of North Carolina, which also gives 
quality to all the smoking tobacco used. 

Rice. — The rice lands of the lower Cape Fear River were formerly 
more largely cultivated than at present, as many plantations were allowed 
to go down during the war, and have not been reclaimed since. The 
plantations that are still cultivated in the crop of irrigated rice produce 
excellent crop.5. but there is a tendency to turn the.se lands to j^rass 



88 A SKETCH OK NORTH CAROLINA. 



culture and pasture for stock since the competition of the Louisiana 
rice lands renders the crop less profitable here. The upland rice crop 
is produced all over the Coastal Plain Region, and while the grain is not 
so fine as the river rice nor the crop so large per acre it is grown at far 
less cost and is in many sections a profitable crop. Lands formerly in 
rice along the Brunswick River near the City of Wilmington are now 
used to feed dairy cattle for the Wilmington milk trade. The great 
cost of diking, ditching and irrigating the river lands has prevented 
the reclamation of large areas, and the fact that on the low prairie 
lands of the Gulf coast in Louisiana the crop can be produced at far 
less cost that here is rapidly leading to the abandonment of irrigated 
rice in the South Atlantic region. The yearly crop of river rice in 
North Carolina and of upland rice is stated to be 6,000,000 pounds and 
the crop is grown on 12,200 acres. There are rice mills in several 
sections for cleaning the crop. 

Peanuts. — Peanuts flourish in all parts of the State on suitable mellow 
soils. But the crop assumes commercial importance only on the level 
sandy soils of the Coastal Plain, and is more largely grown in the counties 
bordering on southeastern Virginia than elsewhere. Here as with 
the cotton growers in other sections the peanut growers have been in 
the habit of relying too much on commercial fertilizers and have been 
planters rather than farmers. There is hardly any land in eastern 
North Carolina which is adapted to peanuts on which by good farming 
100 bushels per acre may not be grown. And yet the average crop is 
probably less than 25 bushels per acre. Like the tobacco growers in 
some sections, the peanut growers have a prejudice against the cow pea 
which is the true soil improver of the south, and particularly of the 
light warm soils on which the peanut thrives best. It has been proven 
in several instances that the true method for improving the peanut crop 
is to practice a good rotation of crops, growing forage for feeding live 
stock and so increase the humus content of the soil that lime, which 
seems particularly needed by the crop will have material to act upon 
and will produce better results Two classes of peanuts are grown, the 
large white or Virginia nut and the Spanish or upright growing sort. 
This last is considered by many as the most profitable as it is produc- 
tive and more easy to harvest and is in more demand for the manu- 
facture of oil. North Carolina produces over half a million bushels of 
peanuts, and by good farming the same area ought to produce three or 
four times the crop now grown. 

Indian Corn. — The Indian corn crop is annually becoming of more im- 
portance in the State as farmers in the cotton region realize the import- 
ance of growing more food crops and feeding more stock. The introduc- 
tion of the corn harvester and the shredding machine, by which the crop 
is husked and torn into a feed similar to hay are rapidly enabling farmers 
to feed cattle to better advantage on the corn crop than they could in the 
old time expensive way of saving the fodder and wasting the stalks. 
By degrees the cutting of the crop off at the ground and saving the 
stover in good shape is becoming more common. These improvements 
do not come rapidly by reason of the great conservatism of the farmers 
us a (.-lass, and the lack of means witli man\' to l)uv the machinery 







Gl.ENOE STOCK FARM — NEW KIVEU — ONSLOW COUNTY. 



<-'!K^^'''''^ 



^M^ 



• '1 * 






^M 




A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 89 

needed. But diversified farming has taken hold in North Carolina and 
the development while slow is steadily onward. Years ago, and but a 
few years ago, in all the towns of North Carolina one could find in the 
provision stores only the meat of the western packing houses and the 
hams of southeastern Virginia. Now in every provision store one sees 
large quantities of North Carolina cured meat expo.sed for sale. And 
the fact that so much is found in these stores shows that the farmers 
as a class are no longer depending on the western meat but are raising 
a surplus over their own needs. 

What North Carolina needs more than anything else is men of 
means who have faith in the soil and who are willing to invest their 
means in improved farming. The curse of the State, especially in the 
cotton growing sections, is the cropping system, in which the tenants 
skin the land to raise cotton on shares and pay enormous percentages 
to the merchants who "carry" them through the cropping season. It 
is a hopeless system both for the land and the tenant, and no real 
improvement can be hoped for until the whole system is abandoned 
and men cultivate the land in a farmer- like manner and those with- 
out means work for cash wages rather than the uncertain method of 
cropping. When men who have means to farm right realize that the 
hope of the State lies in proper farming and see that there is profit for 
them in such farming, we may hope to see a rapid improvement in the 
crops and farming. Nothing shou-s the wonderful recuperative power 
of the lands of North Carolina more than the way in which they have 
sustained the treatment they have received. Here and there, where 
men have invested their means wisely in the improvement of the soil 
the results of good farming have been as good as in any State. Down 
in the level sandy soils of the lower coast Mr. Thos. Mclntyre has 
established successfully a stock farm where fine horses and cattle are 
bred as profitably and successfully as anywhere. In fact in this mild 
climate stock raising can be done far more cheaply than in the cold 
climate of the North, for there is hardly a day in the winter when the 
cattle may not be on pasture. 

On the waters of the Eno River, the upper tributary of the Neuse, 
Col. J. S. Carr. has one of the finest stock farms to be found any- 
where, and the Occoneechee farm products have made themselves a 
name. 

Not far from this, and in the same county of Orange, near the 
University Station, Mr. W. Duke, of Durham, has a magnificent stock 
farm, which is being profitably managed on business principles and is 
rapidly becoming a model for any section. 

Westward of these farms there are here and there a number of 
places that are being improved. In the neighborhood of Charlotte, 
Mr. C. C. Moore, has made one of the most notable successes in the 
dairy business. Starting years ago with one cow, one horse and a 
buggy and less than $100 in money, Mr. Moore has by careful manage- 
ment and attention to business, and the study of modern dairy practice, 
developed a milk business that now brings in $30 a day. 

There are other dairies growing up in various sections and the 
time is not far distant when North Carolina will supply the butter and 



go A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

milk for her people who are not getting butter from abroad and being 
swindled with oleomargarine. With the success of the National law 
against the coloring of oleomargarine the dairy industry in North 
Carolina will receive a great impetus and will become one of the most 
important farm interests in the State. 

An expert dairyman from Vermont removed a year or more ago tu 
Georgia, and lately gave me his experience in the South. He said 
that he found that he can make as good butter in the South all the 
year through as he made in Vermont, his feed cost him less to grow, 
and was produced in greater abundance and hence the milk cost less, 
while the price he gets for his butter is far better than he got in 
Vermont. The ease aud profusion with which forage can be produced 
here with the cow pea and soy beans and crimson clover makes us the 
envy of the Northern farmers who cannot grow near as much forage in 
the same time with their crops. The Northern farmers are eagerly 
trying our cow peas and are succeeding in growing them, and find them 
profitable. If they can find them profitable we. where the^- grow far 
better, should realize their value. 

STOCK FEEDING IN THE COAST PLAIN. 

In no section of the State are the conditions for successful stock 
raising and feeding more favorable than in the level lands of the 
Coastal Plain. It is here that the cow pea and the soy bean attain 
their highest development, and the great Indian corn can be grown in 
abundance. The mild winter climate enables the stockman to have 
green pasturage all winter by the use of winter oats, rye and wheat 
with crimson clover or vetch. The natural growth of crab grass on 
all improved soils furnishes abundant hay to balance the ration with 
the pea vine hay and to make up whatever the corn and the peas may 
lack. Then if more protein is needed the numerous oil mills in the 
section furnish a cheap supply in the cotton seed meal. 

The food supplies are here in abundance and all that is needed is 
the introduction ot improved beef breeds of cattle, and the handling 
of the crops in better shape. There is in the corn crop alone in east- 
ern North Carolina waste enough to feed all the beef cattle needed by 
the towns of that section. The introduction of the corn harvester and 
binder and the shredder will enable the farmers to ecojioiiiize in this 
respect. There is no section of the State where the conditions for 
successful stock raising are so favorable as in the Coast Plain. 

With the introduction of systematic feeding of improved beef 
cattle the other crops of the farms could be immensely increased while 
the area devoted to them could be lessened. 

HOG RAISING. 

What has been said in regard to the capacity of the Coastal Plain 
for stock feeding in general applies with particular force to the rais- 
ing of hogs. In no part of the whole country can a greater variety of 
products be more cheaply grown for feeding hogs than in eastern 
North Carolina. Pigs dropped in February or March can be kept 



A SKETCH OK NORTH CAROLINA. 9I 

thriving all through the season on a succession of products that are 
cheaply grown and will need but little corn to fit them for the market. 
Hogs can be raised here cheaper than in the west, where hog raising 
is an important business. With artichokes for them to root up 
in the winter, clover and vetch for spring and early summer 
grazing, followed by cow peas, and these by sweet potatoes and 
peanuts the pigs will grow rapidly and healthfully till late fall, 
when a little corn will round them up and leave a good margin of 
profit for the work. Then too, the curing of bacon after the manner 
pursued in southeastern Virginia can be made as profitable here as 
there. As we write these lines the finely cured and smoked hams of 
southeast Virginia are being retailed in Raleigh for twenty-two and a 
half cents per pound, while the product of the western packers is 
bringing fifteen cents. But the farmers of North Carolina have im- 
agined that smoking is not essential to the making of a good ham, and 
the white tried hams of the country sell for about the same price as 
the western hams or sometimes less. If cured and smoked after the 
Virginia plan there is no reason why the North Carolina product should 
not sell for as much, for the conditions are the same in eastern North 
Carolina as in Virginia where the famous Smithfield hams are produced. 
With hogs raised cheaper than they can possibly be raised in the West. 
and home cured bacon selling for far more money than the packing 
house product there is a wide field for enterprise in the raising of hogs 
and the curing of the meat in eastern North Carolina. 

SHEEP RAISING. 

Here, too, the conditions for success are excellent all over the State- 
The eastern section is particularly well situated to take advantage o^ 
the nearness of the Northern markets and the ease of transportation 
for the growing of what are known as hot house lambs, that is lambs 
dropped early in the winter and forced all winter in warm quarters for 
the early spring market at fancy prices. Then, too, with the abundant 
forage that can be grown the Western range lambs can be bought in car- 
load lots in the fall and fed for yearling lambs for the spring and early 
summer market. This is now being done with great success in a far 
colder climate in Ohio, by the use of alfalfa. 

ALFALFA FOR SHEEP AND CATTLE. 

It has for many years been assumed that the crop of alfalfa was 
only adapted to the arid regions of the West, and hundreds of experi- 
ments in growing it in the East proved failures. Of late years, how- 
ever, the conditions for success have been more accurately studied. 
and it is becoming evident that alfalfa will soon take as important 
a place in the farming of the Eastern coast as it does in the arid West. 
In no part of North Carolina are the conditions for success with al- 
falfa better than in the drier sandy soils of the coast plain. Alfalfa 
must have a mellow sub-soil into which its roots can penetrate easily, 
and this sub-soil must be free from water standing nearer than eight 
feet from the surface. With such conditions and a fairlv fertile soil 



92 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the crop can be grown with ease. The main reason for the failure 
heretofore has been that the plants are weak in their early growth and 
get overtopped and smothered by weeds, and they turn yellow and die. 
It has been found that when a good stand has been had the crop must 
be mown two or three times during the first summer as fast as it 
gets tall enough to clip. This keeps down the weeds and strengthens 
the roots. Then the following spring a light dressing of lime is 
spread over the field and success is assured. The wonderful amount of 
forage that can be cut year after year from a well established piece of 
alfalfa puts it in the front rank of permanent forage crops. 

It should be one of the leading crops on the dryer lands of eastern 
North Carolina, and there are mellow soils all over the State where it 
will be as successful as in the East. At the Occoneechee Farm of 
Col. J. S. Carr, near Hillsboro, alfalfa has been perfectly successful, 
and in the far West, beyond Asheville, it is being grown with success. 
Having a stand of alfalfa sheep feeding becomes easy for the hay made 
from this plant furnishes food that is unsurpassed in quality for sheep, 
and through the sheep the farm can be made rich. 

RAISING HORSES AND MULES. 

There is no section of the country where the raising of fine horses 
and mules can be done more profitably than in the fertile valleys of 
the mountain region in the valley of the upper Tennessee River, in 
Macon County, the valleys of the Hiwassee and Valley Rivers in 
Cherokee, in the high plateau of Henderson and Transylvania Coun- 
ties, and in fact in all this wonderful region of hill and dale there are 
thousands of locations where breeding farms could be profitably man- 
aged. This is being done to some extent in Macon Coimty, and 
should be done more largely elsewhere. The mules used on the cotton 
farms are brought from other States, while they could as easily and 
profitably be raised here, and a large business be inaugurated not only 
with the cotton farmers of the State, but with those further South. 
The mountain region is pre-eminently the breeding region not only for 
horses, mules and cattle, but for sheep, as the eastern section is the 
place for winter feeding, and the two might be made to work in har- 
mony and be a mutual advantage. 

THE FARMING OF THE CENTRAL PIEDMONT. 

For general farming with grain, cotton and tobacco the great Pied- 
mont country sloping to the sun from the Blue Ridge is the true region 
for general diversification and high farming. The deep clay loams 
whose fertility has as yet been hardly touched in the shallow plowing 
of the past form a soil of unsurpassed lasting quality amd capable of 
the highest development under a wise system of cultivation. With 
cotton as the money crop on the southern half of the region and 
tobacco as the money crop in the northern half, a wise system of farm 
crop rotation in connection with the feeding of cattle as part of the 
work rather than a specialty, this whole section should be and one day 
will be one of the finest agricultural regions in the whole United 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 93 

States. Wherever the land has had intelligent management the crops 
will compare favorably with those of any section of the country, and 
there is not a region of equal extent in the country that would have 
survived as this has the bad treatment of the past. The soils in some 
parts have been reduced to an unproductive condition through bad 
management, but there are really no worn out lands, and all the red 
rolling uplands can be made to pay for their improvement in crops 
while being brought up to a high state of productiveness. While in 
the neighborhood of all the growing towns of this section the dairy can 
be made exceedingly profitable, it is general farming that should be the 
rule over this whole wide area. It has been said that the difficulty with 
the cotton growers of this section is that they raise three bales of 
cotton for every beef they feed, while the great State of Texas raises 
three beeves for every bale of cotton she produces. When the cotton 
farmers of the Piedmont country raise three beeves for each bale of 
cotton they will raise more cotton than now and produce it on less 
land. 

Here and there the leaven of good farming is working, and this 
beautiful region only needs the advent of energetic farmers with capi- 
tal to improve the productiveness of the soil and to make money while 
doing it. With the rapid increase in manufacturing enterprises all 
over this section of the State, and the consequent growth of the towns 
and cities there is growing up a home market that needs good farmers 
to fill. Every cotton mill built means labor taken off the farms which 
the farms have got to feed, and the day of the small farmer, the dairy- 
man and the gardener is here and there already arrived, the men 
are needed, and success awaits them in a hundred localities. 

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 

There is no one evidence of more interest being taken in the im- 
provement of the soil than the fact that the young men of the State 
are beginning to realize the value of an education especially directed 
to the study of practical agriculture. For years past they have been 
crowding into the mechanical courses of study at the North Carolina 
College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, but now the tide is turn- 
ing, and there are hundreds waiting and anxious for the College to be 
enlarged to meet their wants. The College being now under the con- 
trol of the Board of Agriculture, the members of which are all farmers, 
a great impetus has been given to the study of agriculture, and as the 
facilities for this study are extended where there are now less than 
one hundred students in agriculture there will soon be hundreds 
earnestly studying how to develop the agriculture of the State. The 
Board of Agrici'.lture has wisely established over one hundred scholar- 
ships by which needy young men are enabled to get through the col- 
lege and earn their way, and as these young men go out to the farms 
they will make nuclei of improvement in all parts of the State, and 
thus the Department of Agriculture, through the College, will be the 
means of a great development. 



94 A SKKTCH OF NORTH CAROLINA, 

FARMERS INSTITUTES. 

While in North Carolina there has never been large special appro- 
priations made by the legislature for the conducting of Farmers Insti- 
tutes as there have been in many other States, the Board of Agricul- 
ture has from its own funds endeavored to maintain these great helps 
for the farmers. Institutes have been held in all parts of the State 
and in many instances with signal success. An effort is now being 
made to organize the farmers of every county for mutual improvement, 
and it is hoped that through these organizations the institute work 
will become better organized and be the power for good that it 
should be. 

COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS. 

There is not a State in the whole country where the trade in fer- 
tilizers is under a more systematic control and supervision than in 
North Carolina. The result of wise laws rigidly enforced has been 
that the makers of standard fertilizers have been protected from fraudu- 
lent competition and the farmers have been guarded against the swin- 
dlers who are ever ready to prey upon them in the sale of worthless 
articles. No class of the community is more benefitted by the en- 
forcement of the inspection laws than the makers of first-class fertili- 
zers themselves, while the farmer who cannot in the nature of things 
detect a fraud in fertilizers, is assured of the quality of the goods he 
buys. Hence the protection is mutual both for the reliable maker and 
the user of his goods. This is of the greatest importance in the farm- 
ing of the State, since under the conditions of modern agriculture 
these concentrated forms of plant food are essential to the improve- 
ment of the soil when properly used for this purpose and not merely 
applied in an indiscriminate way for the chances of getting more sale 
crops from a run down soil. Used as they have been largely, they 
have proved a curse to many farmers, but used as they should be the 
commercial fertilizers will enable the farmer more rapidly to restore 
his soil than in any other way. 



HORTICULTURE IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

UNDER this head we mean to include horticulture in all its 
branches, fruit culture, vegetable gardening and ornamental 
plant production. In this broad sense there has been a greater 
development in North Carolina in recent years than in general 
farming. 

TRUCK FARMING. 

In the production of vegetables for shipment outside the State 
there has been a great development in two distinct lines, the produc 
tion in the warm Coastal Plain of early vegetables for the Northern 




TKIC KING AROUND NEW liliKN. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 95 

markets and in the high Mountain Region of late vegetables for the 
Southern Coast Regions. In both the increase of production has been 
marked and is annually increasing. The great trucking region of the 
State for the Northern markets is naturally the Coast Region, since 
here the warm mellow soil and mild climate favor the production of 
the crops of vegetables and small fruits at an early season that makes 
them profitable for shipment. This production of vegetables is rapidly 
becoming an all the year business for with slight protection there are 
some crops that can be produced here all through the winter. 

WINTER GARDENING. 

Within the past few years, beginning in the more southern part of 
the Coast Region there has grown up a very profitable business in the 
growing of lettuce during the winter under a simple protection of 
cotton cloth. This culture has gradually extended northward until the 
crop of winter lettuce has become a very important one all over the 
Coast Region. While ordinarily the protection of cotton cloth has 
resulted in profitable crops, the day is not far distant when the more 
progressive and intelligent gardeners will not be satisfied with this but 
will provide the more efiicient and in the long run cheaper article of 
glass sashes for the lettuce frames. The present hard winter has in 
many instances proved rather disastrous to the frames under cloth, 
while those under glass have been eminently successful. When once 
the gardeners of the State realize the profit that can be made by the 
intelligent use of glass there will grow up a great forcing business in 
heated structures as there has in the North, and which our milder 
climate will make more profitable. Numerous instances have 
occurred where with the simple cloth cover the growers have realized 
over $3,000 per acre from the lettuce crop during the winter and spring 
months, and this is made during a time when the general garden work 
outside is at a standstill. 

Our mild winter climate and the abounding sunshine, even in the 
coldest weather, give us great advantage over the Northern forcing 
gardeners who have to contend with colder weather and with long 
spells of sunless days. All who are accustomed to gardening under 
glass can understand the value of our sunlight in winter, for it counts 
for more in plant life than fire heat. 

TRUCK FARMS. 

The leading sections where trucking on a large scale is carried on 
are found along the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad from Wilmington 
northward and in the neighborhoods of Kinstorf and New Bern on the 
A. & N. C. R. R. , between Goldsboro and Morehead City. Particu- 
larly around the City of New Bern has market gardening developed 
to an immense extent and the vegetable crops cover thousands of acres, 
The soil in this section is admirably suited to the various crops grown, 
since there are low ridges of somewhat clayey texture on which the 
early cabbage crop thrives best, fertile flats of mellow sandy loam 
suited to a great variety of crops from the early potatoes to the melon 



g6 A SKETCH oF NORTH CAROLINA. 

and black peaty lands reclaimed from swamp on which late crops of 
celery thrive with wonderful luxuriance, and on which when well un- 
derdrained the cabbage crop grows immense. 

The great extent of the market gardening business around New 
Bern is a surprise to those who view it for the first time. The lead- 
ing growers are Hackburn and Willett, Meadows and Company and 
John Dunn, each of whom cultivate hundreds of acres in vegetable 
crops and employ hands by hundreds in the busy season. The leading 
crops are asparagus, early cabbages, early Irish potatoes and musk- 
melons, while other vegetables are grown on a smaller scale. Early 
beets and radishes are grown to some extent in frames to forward the 
crop, but they are also largely grown in the open ground. 

The crops of single growers will at times run up to sales of $75,000 
or more. New Bern has the advantage of other points in the fact 
that the growers there can ship by water and by rail also, and thus 
are not dependent on a single line of transportation and can make 
better rates. There is also a large laboring population always ready 
to crowd into the fields. The importance of this abundance of labor 
will readily be appreciated by those who understand the necessity of 
plenty of hands in the hurry and push of the truck farm. The great 
development of the market garden interest in the South has been made 
possible through the manufacture of commercial fertilizers. But for 
these it would be impossible, for stable manure could not be had in 
sufficient quantities for the production of these crops at points distant 
from the great cities. The truck farmers use these artificial fertili- 
zers in enormous quantities, for they aim to follow their early truck 
crops by later crops and to keep the land at work during the season. 
The early cabbages are set in the fall and go to market in April, and 
often snap beans are planted between the cabbage rows to take the 
place of that crop later. Then when the beans are. gathered and 
shipped the vines are plov^^ed under and the land harrowed smooth and 
a natural growth of crab grass comes at once, and later on gives a crop 
of a ton or more of excellent hay per acre. In other cases cow peas 
are sown after the early crops and these make an immense crop of ex- 
cellent hay, so that the truck farmer is enabled to feed herds of cattle 
with economy and profit. One New Bern firm, Messrs Hackburn and 
Willett, keep a dairy herd of over one hundred cows and run milk 
wagons in the City of New Bern and are thus enabled profitably to 
supply themselves with large quantities of manure which is a great 
help especially with the cabbage crop which demands something 
more than artificial fertilizers. Fish oil factories are numerous on 
the sounds, and the fish scrap is used largely as an ingredient in the 
fertilizer mixtures. The larger truck farmers all have machinery and 
steam power for mixing their own fertilizers and they simply buy the 
materials and mix to suit the various crops grown. The fertilizer bill of 
the large truck farms will annually foot up many thousands of dollars, and 
the growers fully understand that lavish use of fertilizers is 
essential to the production of the best crops, and the repeated crops 
they get from the land fully warrant this lavish application. The 
truck crops of the North Carolina section usually come in from two to 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 97 

three weeks in advance of the trucking region around Norfolk, Va. 
At New Bern, too, there are many acres covered with cloth for the 
production of the winter crop of lettuce and the early crops of beets 
and radishes, and this business has extended to Edgecombe County 
where a number of acres of lettuce are now produced at a large profit. 
For more than a hundred miles from Wilmington north this winter 
crop of lettuce has attained great commercial importance, and the 
culture is extending to other sections. In the Sand Hill Region of 
Moore County an enterprising Northern grower has made a profitable 
business with lettuce under glass and has surpassed those who still cling 
to the imperfect cover of cotton cloth, and at Raleigh the growing 
of lettuce under glass for the local market has been made profitable. 
At Fayetteville there are growers of this winter crop who are doing 
well too. Over a large part of the State this gardening under glass 
can be made a great source of profit, for the growers here can compete 
easily in the perfection of the crop with those in the North who are 
obliged to use heated houses for the purpose, while here a simple glass 
sash on a well manured frame is all sufficient for the production of two 
crops during the winter and early spring. Grown at so slight a compara- 
tive expense our growers can afford to produce the crop for far less price 
than those who grow it in expensive houses and steam heat. When 
our growers realize the value of glass on frames it will be but a step 
to the construction of the regular forcing houses and the production of 
the more tender crops of tomatoes and cucumbers in winter. In the 
greenhouses of the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic 
Arts, tomatoes and cucumbers have been successfully grown, and are 
now being grown, and it has been proven that they can be grown at a 
greater profit here than in the colder and more sunless climate of the 
North, where this business has been very successful, one grower near 
Boston, having eight acres in heated houses in a climate where more 
expensive houses and more coal are needed than here. There is 
no more inviting field for the investment of capital and the em- 
ployment of skilled labor than in the business of winter forcing 
under glass in the upper South. This business has developed in the 
semi-arctic climate of New England, and the products sent to New 
York from distances as great as from North Carolina, while the expense 
attending the production there is fully double what it would be here. 
And yet the growers there are making money, while here far larger 
profits could be realized. Some day our people will wake up to their 
advantages in this respect and we too will have extensive ranges of 
heated glass for the production of crops out of sfeason for which the 
wealthy people of the great Northern cities stand ready to pay liber- 
ally. There is a greater field for development in North Carolina in 
all sections of the State in this line than in any other in horticulture. 
Not only the vegetables can be thus grown but fruits like the straw- 
berry and the foreign grapes can be made a great source of profit under 
glass, for here we can get the fine Vinefera grapes ready for market a 
month before the California crop comes in, and can thus have the 
market to ourselves till the crop is sold. With sunny winters and a 
mild climate there is no reason why, with our rapid transportation 



98 A SKETCH UF NOK'riI CAROLINA. 

this winter forcing should not become a leading industry here. Our 
people have yet to learn the great value of a concentration of capital 
and effort on small areas. They want to be large farmers or large 
gardeners and go over a great area, Avhich the investment of more 
capital on a smaller area and the use of glass would bring greater 
profit. But the business is starting and is certain to develop in the 
future as men of means realize the advantages we have. 

TRUCKING IN THE MOUNTAIN COUNTRY. 

One of the most recent developments in the State has been the 
production in the high plateau region of vegetable crops for the lower 
southern coast in the late fall and winter. The lower coast country 
from North Carolina to Southern Florida is now being supplied with 
winter cabbages and potatoes from our mountain country, Some 
years ago the writer was at a small town on the French Broad River west 
of Asheville. A buyer came there from Charleston, S. C, being told 
that he could buy potatoes there. He remarked that it did not look 
like there were any potatoes in those great hills. But he sent out 
word that he wanted them, and by night of the first day there were 
more potatoes there than he had money to pay for, and he was obliged 
to telegraph for funds. By the next evening he had all the potatoes he 
needed, and found that hills did not prevent the growing of the crop. 

But the greatest development in this line has been in Henderson 
County. Here the great fall crop is cabbage, and though the business 
was started only a dozen years ago, they now ship train loads to Flor- 
ida and other sections of the South where this late crop cannot be suc- 
cessfully produced. The climate of this mountain region closely re- 
sembles that of sections far north of them, and their nearness to the 
Southern market makes their product sell to advantage, because of 
greater cheapness of transportation. While the eastern section of the 
State can excel in the growing of early crops, the mountain country 
has the advantage of climate for the production of the general crop of 
Irish potatoes and cabbages, and the mountain ci'op of potatoes is then 
succeeded by the still later crop of Irish potatoes produced in the east 
as a second crop from the seed of the early one. In writing of the 
truck in the east we should have mentioned this late crop of potatoes. 
We were shown a field in Edgecombe County where a profitable crop of 
early potatoes had been grown, a crop of pea-vine hay raised and a crop 
of late potatoes, making 65 barrels per acre, was then dug and banked up 
in the field, and the land was then set in cabbages for the next spring. 
This crop of potatoes, amounting to 1,500 barrels, was sold before 
Christmas for $2. 50 per barrel. This late crop is dug about the first 
of December in the east and piled in the field and covered with earth. 
Many growers let them remain till February, when they are taken 
from the earth and shipped North and sold as "New Bermudas." 

The great value of this second crop, however, is for planting the 
early crop the following season. It has been found that these potatoes 
are far better than the Northern seed potatoes, and now the growers of 
the early crop will use no other seed for planting. They are out of the 




V- mf^ 



TRUCKIXG — ATLANTIC & NORTH CAROLINA RAILROAD. 



A SKETCH OV NORTH CAROLINA. 99 

ground but a short time and never sprout as the Northern potatoes 
do which are dug early in the fall, and when they grow it is with the 
strong growth of the terminal bud instead of the lateral eyes of the 
Northern potato, and the crop is better by reason of a better growth 
and undiminished food supply in the potato. These late potatoes are 
begining to be valued in the North for seed, and a business will grow 
up in their production in which the South will have a monopoly. 

SMALL FRUIT CULTURE. 

As in the production of early crops of vegetables the Coast Plain 
has an advantage over other sections by reason of its mellow soil and 
mild climate, so in the production of the strawberry crop this section 
also has the advantage of earliness. The first strawberries usually 
come from Chadbourn in Columbus County, where a colony of enter- 
prising people from the Northwestern States have settled and are 
making homes where blizzards never blow, having been driven by 
these from their home in the Northwest. Their soil suits the straw- 
berry admirably and Chadbourn berries take the lead in the early mar- 
ket by reason of superior quality. 

Following the Chadbourn berries come those from the neighbor- 
hood of Wilmington, and then on up the Wilmington and Weldon 
Railroad of the Coast Line System, station after station comes in till 
the bulk of the crop is reached in the neighborhood of Mount Olive. 
In the height of the season several train loads daily are sent North and 
the crop runs away up in the millions of baskets. The level black 
lands abounding in moisture are ideal lands for the strawberry which 
is very fond of water, and the liberal fertilization of the strawberry 
fields produces immense crops. This crop has been the great source of 
wealth all along this line of railroad and is increasing in extent and 
importance annually and extending northward so that there is a con- 
tinuous production of the berries from Chadbourn till the crop is ready 
around Norfolk. 

In addition to the strawberry crop, which is the largest, there are 
also a great many blackberries produced. The earliest of these is the 
running variety of dewberry known as the Lucretia, These are fol- 
lowed by the Wilson early blackberry and the early harvest. The 
Lucretia comes into market long before strawberries are ripe in the 
North and usually gives very profitable returns as also to the other 
varieties. The dewberry and blackberries are grown not only in the 
eastern section with the strawberries but are also grown in other parts 
of the State. They are becoming a profitable crop in the Sand Hill 
region, and along the Seaboard Air Line north of Raleigh and wherever 
grown they have been found profitable. Raspberries are but little 
grown in the eastern section, as they do not bear transportation well 
and the climate is not suited to them as well as that north of us, 
the summers being too long for them. 

In the coast plain the production of grapes is largely confined to 
the scuppernong, though other grapes thrive and are grown to some 
extent. There are several large vineyards devoted to the making of 

wine. The Medoc yin^'^rd of the Messrs. Garrett produces hundreds 

L., C'i 'v. 



lOO A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



of thousands of gallons of wine annually and wine of a high quality and 
reputation, especially that from the scuppernong grape. Near Fa}'- 
etteville the Tokay vineyard of Hon. J. Wharton Green has made a 
high reputation for its scuppernong wines and there are others in the 
same section. In the mountain country, where the scuppernong does 
not thrive, Col. Hoyt of Buncombe County has a successful vineyard, 
and is producing the French and other European grapes by grafting 
them on our native roots. His vineyard, known as Engadine, has also 
made a reputation for the quality of its wine. 

But it is in the sand hill country in Moore County where the 
greatest development in grape-growing has developed. At Southern 
Pines many Northern invalids found that they could live in comfort on 
the dry soil and in the mild climate, and they made homes there. 
Naturally they wanted to grow something, and they soon found that 
the apparently barren sand had a wonderful capacity for the production 
of grapes of fine quality. The business grew until there are now 
about 1,000 acres in grapes, almost exclusively of Delaware and Niag- 
ara varieties around Southern Pines. No wine of any amount is made, 
since it pays better to ship the fruit, which goes to market in July 
and August. Finding how well the grape did these settlers experi- 
mented with other fruits, and now the grov/ing of peaches bids fair to 
excel the grapes in extent and profit. Orchards of many hundreds of 
acres have been planted and have been profitable. The largest one, 
that of the J. Van Lindley Company, covering several hundred acres, 
and producing peaches of the finest quality. Pears of the Kieffer and 
Leconte type are also largely groivn, and the vigor and productive- 
ness of apples on these sandy soils is a surprise to those who have not 
seen them. Plums of the Japanese and native sorts, too, are being 
largely grown, and the sand hill region seems likely to gain a great 
reputation for fine fruits as it has for healthfulness. In this same 
region at the great winter resort, Pinehurst, which was founded by 
the late James Tufts, of Boston, who spent a million of dollars in its 
development, there is a prosperous nursery in which a specialty is made 
of native trees and plants for ornamental purposes. This nursery is 
gaining a reputation abroad and is proving a profitable enterprise. 

It is not only in the sand hill country that the peach and grape 
thrive. All over the rolling uplands of the Piedmont country they are 
grown to perfection, as well as the plums and other fruits. In Guil- 
ford County, near the City of Greensboro, are the largest nurseries of 
fruit and ornamental trees in the State. The nurseries of the J. Van 
Lindley Company, at Pomona, cover hundreds of acres, and are doing a 
large business. In the same county, near Greensboro, are the nurser- 
ies of J. A. Young, where a successful business has been established. 
The nurseries of J. W. Anthony are also in Guilford County, south of 
Greensboro. From these nurseries, where all the trees of the climate 
are grown, our planters can be supplied with the best of stock and need 
not go to a distance to get what they want. Another nursery of im- 
portance is that connected with the great Biltmore estate near Ashe- 
ville. This has been largely devoted to the production of trees and 
plants for the adornment of the estate, but also produces trees for sale. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. lOI 

There are smaller nurseries scattered over the various sections of the 
State and supplying a local demand. 

ORCHARDING IN NORTH CAROLINA. 

We have mentioned the peach, which thrives in all sections of the 
State. The leading orcjiard fruit is of course here as elsewhere the 
apple. While apples can be grown at least for home use in every sec- 
tion of the State the production of apples for commercial purposes is 
largely confined to the elevated region just east of the Blue Ridge and 
to the mountain country beyond the ridge. This wonderful region of 
valley and plateau and mountain sides is the finest apple region in the 
United States, but is as yet largely undeveloped. Apples are grown 
all through the mountain country, but little attention is paid to the 
trees and the fruit is handled in the most careless manner. But there 
are apples there ever)'^ year, and when here and there the orchards get 
intelligent attention the product is of the finest. A few years ago the 
late Geo. E. Boggs of Haywood County exhibited apples in variety at 
a show in Madison Square Garden, New York, in competition with 
the whole country and carried off the first prize. When North Caro- 
lina apples can thus excel all the noted apple-producing sections of the 
United States the capacity of the State for this production is well 
worth looking into, and should attract capital. Mr. Cone, of New 
York, who has a branch house in North Carolina and has a fondness 
for the North Carolina mountains, has made a summer home on the 
Blue Ridge near Blowing Rock, and has invested largel}' in the pre- 
paration of the soil and planting of apples. His orchards now number 
many thousands of trees and will soon be coming into profit, and will 
doubtless be a fine source of revenue. When skilled fruit growers 
discover the great capacity of the mountain region for the apple crop, 
and its nearness to the Southern market there will be a great move- 
ment towards orchard planting in this beautiful Land of the Sky. 
The apples now sold in the cities and towns of the eastern section of 
the State as well as in all the States south of us come mainly from the 
Xorth. The mountain region of North Carolina is capable of supply- 
ing the whole southern market with apples, and under a wise manage- 
ment would soon be doing so. 

ORNAMENTAL GARDENING AND FLORICULTURE. 

The crop of tuberose bulbs produced in a small section along the 
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in the neighborhood of Magnolia, Rose 
Hill and Wallace, now numbers millions of bulbs annually and supplies 
the demand for these in the Northern cities and in foreign countries 
as well. The soil of this section is admirably adapted to the produc- 
tion of these bulbs, and attention is now being given to the growing 
of other plants of a similar nature. Caladiums are largely produced 
and meet a ready sale. Cannas, too, are grown in immense numbers 
and the gladiolus is being tested with success. Dahlias do well. 
The North Carolina Experiment Station lias been for years experi- 
menting with other bulbs which are largely used by the Northern 



I02 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

florists and are as yet imported from Europe and other countries. The 
principal bulb experimented with has been the Bermuda Lily, over a 
half million of dollars worth of which are annually imported from 
Bermuda. As the conditions needed by these bulbs are better under- 
stood it is believed that they will be profitably and successfully pro- 
duced here, and it is thought that the eastern Coast Plain is the place 
for these as well as other bulbs. 

When our gardeners get to using heated glass structures in the 
cultivation of winter crops of vegetables they will soon be looking into 
the uses that can be made of these houses at times when they would 
otherwise be vacant. The florists of the North have found that it is 
an advantage to have the roses they sell grown in the South. We have 
here a longer season for the growing of field roses, and a general 
freedom from the mildew that injures them in the North. A great 
and profitable division of labor can be made by the propagation of 
roses in the South. The cuttings can betaken from plants growing in 
the open ground and can be rooted in the houses during August and 
September before the winter forcing begins, and when established in 
small pots can be packed away for the winter in cold frames or then 
sold to the trade who may wish to grow them on .to a larger size for 
spring or can be set in the open ground in the spring and grown 
during the summer for fall sales. A great business can thus be estab- 
lished anywhere in the State. 

The rose is but one of the many things that are sold in large quan- 
tities North, and which can be more cheaply produced in the South. 
Even without the use of glass the hardy Hybrid Perpetual roses can be 
grown here by setting long cuttings in the open ground in December, 
cultivating them one season and then having them ready for shipment 
North. There are also numerous ornamental plants that can be propa- 
gated here in the same way which are tender in the North. A lib- 
eral investment of capital in this line with skilled men to handle the 
business would result in the establishment of great and profitable 
enterprises. The possibilities of floriculture in North Carolina are 
but little understood either in the State or beyond, and when they are 
more completely realized there will be a wonderful development in this 
line. This is especially true of the production of bulbs and roses, and 
in these alone there is an opening for investment that should attract 
lovers of the beautiful. 

We have made but a hasty sketch of the great horticulture advan- 
tages of North Carolina. While there has been some development, as 
in the truck farming and the tube-rose growing sections, the great 
horticultural capacity of the State has hardly been realized much less 
developed. There are great possibilities merely waiting for the men 
and the means to develop them, and we have endeavored briefly to 
show just where the profit can be made in this development. For men 
skilled in horticultural operations and with capital to push the work, 
we know of no'more inviting field. Climate, soil and transportation 
facilities combine to give us an advantage over sections north or south 
of us. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 103 

ORCHARDS AND SMALL FRUIT. 



GENERAL. — The cultivation of the orchard and small fruits is des- 
tined to become one of the most important agricultural features 
of the State. Already the cultivation of strawberries in the Coast 
Region has attained a high degree of development and the same section 
produces considerable quantities of blackberries, dewberries and scupper- 
nong grapes. Pears, peaches and cherries thrive well in the various 
regions of the Piedmont, while in the mountains and foothills, apples 
and the cluster grapes grow luxuriantly. There seems to be no section 
of the State that is not well adapted to the cultivation of some one or 
more of these fruits. In this brief discussion we are only able to in- 
dicate the principal regions adapted to the fruits considered, and td 
mention the efforts being put forth to encourage the industry. 

Transportation Facilities. — The question of transportation is of 
prime importance to every fruit grower. The eastern region is 
traversed by the main line of the Atlantic Coast Line Railway, and its 
numerous branches. The eastern Piedmont and the western portion 
of the Coast Region are crossed by the main line of the Seaboard Air 
Line Railway, while the main line of the Southern Railway traverses 
the State in the middle of the Piedmont Belt. The mountain sections are 
reached by branches of the Southern and one or two minor roads. 
The principal roads mentioned give quick transportation to the large 
markets of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston. 

ORCHARD FRUITS. 

Apples. — The principal centers of apple production are in the 
western part of the State. The list as here given is adopted for con- 
venience in finding the places on the map, and does not pretend to in- 
dicate the comparative adaptability of the localities: Mt. Airy, (Surry 
County) ; Wilkesboro, (Wilkes County) ; Blowing Rock, (Watauga 
County) ; Burnsville, (Yancey County) ; Asheville, (Buncombe County) ; 
Hendersonville, (Henderson County), and Waynesville, (Haywood 
County). 

Varieties which have proven popular with the growers of western 
New York seem to do well here, as: York Imperial, Winesap, Ben 
Davis, Spy, Baldwin, Fallawater, and, in choice localities the famous 
Albemarle Pippin grows to perfection. 

Cherries. — Although the cherry is not much grown for commercial 
purposes in the State there are certain localities that are well adapted 
to it. The Upper Piedmont, including the counties of Guilford. 
Forsyth, Stokes and Yadkin, yielded an exceptionally heavy crop last 
year (1901). 

Peaches. — With proper care this is a profitable fruit in all except 
the highest, coldest and most exposed mountain localities. Profitable 
orchards are to be found from Carteret County in the east to Haywood in 
the west. The principal centers, however, are at Greensboro, (Guil- 
ford County) , in the Piedmont, and Southern Pines, (Moore County), 
in the sandhill region. 



104 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Pears. — The pear is cultivated over the entire State but mostly 
eastward from the mountains. In the east the principal centers seem 
to be Edenton, (Chowan County), and Fayetteville, (Cumberland 
County), while in the Piedmont, Guilford, Forsyth, Yadkin and 
Davidson Counties seem well suited to the production of this fruit. 

Plums — The area of cultivation of the plum is practically identi- 
cal with that of the peach except that it is not so much cultivated in 
the mountains. 

SMALL FRUITS. 

Blackberries and Dewberries — Cultivation confined mostly to the 
east-central portion. Warren, Moore, and Cumberland Counties rep- 
resent the more important sections. 

Grapes, Scuppernong — Cultivated mainly in the east, where it 
is indigenous, and is much in favor. Halifax, Warren and Pitt seem 
well adapted to it, and no doubt the adjoining counties are equally 
well suited. 

Grapes, Cluster — Mostly cultivated in the west, though one of the 
largest centers is Southern Pines (Moore County) in the Sand Hill re- 
gion. In the western portion, centers of production are Tryon (Polk 
County) ; AsheviDe (Buncombe County) ; and Waynesville (Haywood 
County). 

Strawberries — Eastern region, mostly along Coast Line P.ailroad 
from Weldon (Halifax County) to Wilmington (New Hanover County), 
especially southward from Goldsboro (Wayne County). Also grown in 
great quantities around Ridgeway (Warren County) ; Kittrell (Vance 
County) ; Nev/bern (Craven County) ; and Chadbourne (Columbus 
County). 

The strawberry industry is more fully developed than any other 
branch of fruit growing in this State. Thousands of hands are em- 
ployed in this industry, and tens of thousands of crates of berries are 
shipped northward. This great industry has sprung up quickly and 
is still comparatively new to our State. 

Nurseries in North Carolina — There al'e 45 nurseries in the State 
which keep an abundance of stock to supply the demands of the grow- 
ers. The nurseries of the State are inspected every year by an au- 
thorized officer to see that the salable stock is not diseased or affected 
with destructive insects. In this way a fair degree of protection is 
afforded the customer who deals with our nurseries and growers are 
urged to patronize them rather than order from a distance. A list of 
the licensed nurserymen for 1901-1902, will be found in the October. 
1901. " Bulletin" of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, 
(Raleigh, N. C. ) which will be sent upon application. 

Insect Pests, etc. — The Crop Pest Commission which is furnished 
with a small fund from the State, works in co-operation with the State 
Department of Agriculture in controlling the work of nursery inspec- 
tion, and their proper officers give free information to all enquirers 
regarding the various pests that attack fruit or other crops. 




g^^^ss^gg 








THE VANDERBILT ESTATE — DKIVBWAV — MANSION — BILTMOKE STATION. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 105 

MANUFACTURING. 



ALTHOUGH in the past almost entirely an agricultural State, 
North Carolina is rapidly developing into a manufacturing 
State also. In 1850 there were in the whole State only 14,601 
persons engaged in mechanical industries of all sorts; in 1900 there 
were 70, 570, an increase of 383. 3 per cent. In the last decade the num- 
ber of establishments increased 97.1 per cent. ; the capital invested in- 
creased 133.6 per cent. ; the average number of wage-earners 109.9 per 
cent. ; the cost of material used 132.9 per cent. ; the value of products 
135.00. The value of manufactured products increased in the last ten 
years from $40,375,450 to $94,919,663. 

FACILITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANUFACTURING. 

Few States offer more favorable opportunities for profits in manu- 
facturing. The climate is mild, hence smaller quantities of fuel are 
needed; in most parts of the State water-power is abundant; there is 
a great variety of raw products; labor is wonderfully tractable and 
intelligent enough to adapt itself to the needs of the hour. 

LEADING INDUSTRIES. 

The ten leading industries ranked according to the value of their 
output are as follows: 

Cotton goods $28,372,798 

Lumber and timber products , . . . 14,862,593 

Tobacco (manufactured) .... 13,620,816 

Flouring and grist mill products . . . 8,867,462 

Lumber products, sash, doors, blinds, etc. . 2,892,058 

Oil, cotton seed and coke .... 2,676,871 

Furniture 1,547,305 

Car and ship construction and repairs by rail- 
roads, etc. ...... 1,511,376 

Leather 1,502,378 

Fertilizers. ....... 1,497,625 

COTTON MILLS. 

No other industry in the State has had so rapid and so healthy a 
growth as the cotton mill industry. "The period both of greatest 
absolute increase and of the greatest percentage of increase in the value 
of products was during the decade ending with 1900. In 1890 North 
Carolina was tenth in rank in this manufacture in the United States; 
it is now third, Massachusetts being first and South Carolina second. 
In 1890 among Southern States it ranked third; it is now second, South 
Carolina preceding it, and Georgia taking third place. Although sec- 
ond in value of products, it is first in number of establishments, in 
average number of employees, and in total wages paid. The amount 
of cotton consumed yearly by the spindles now running is nearly 



I06 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



equivalent to the annual cotton crop of the State, which in 1899 was 
473, 155 commercial bales. ' ' 

This growth is at a rapid rate but is none the less healthy, for the 
mill stocks of this State stand fully as high in the estimation of in- 
vestors as those of any other State and the industry in North Carolina 
has suffered as little, or perhaps less, than that of any other State in 
the periodical waves of depression that influence cotton manufacturing 
all the world over. 

Among the difficulties of, and the drawbacks to, manufacturing in 
the Old World and even in the Eastern States of the Union, is the one 
of transit of raw material and finished product. For a hundred years 
the spindles of the world have depended almost entirely on America 
for their supply of cotton, and now, notwithstanding the large crops 
raised in Egypt, India, China and South America, probably two- 
thirds of the spindles in existence use cotton that is grown in the 
South. These mills have to bear heavy freight charges, both on the 
raw cotton and again on the reshipment of manufactured goods; goods 
which still to a large extent are re-imported into this country. Again 
the older manufacturing countries have to deal with labor that is 
organized in trades unions, which insist on high wages, short hours, 
with laws that have been passed incurring all kinds of restrictions and 
regulations which, however desirable they may be from a philan- 
thropic or politico-economical standpoint, are none the less galling to 
the average business man. In addition, the older established mills 
have often to contend with worn out and antiquated plant and 
machinery. 

The business men of North Carolina were among the first to see 
the opportunities of a new era of cotton manufacturing; how, by 
adopting the latest and most improved machinery and by placing it in 
modern mills designed for economical working, they could utilize the 
willing labor in their midst and the cotton around their doors, thus 
keeping the money representing the cost of manufacture at home. The 
difference in value of the average sized crop of North Carolina cotton 
if sold as manufactured fabrics at about 15 cents, instead of 7 cents in 
the bale, would amount to $16,000,000 per annum, a larger portion of 
which sum would remain in the State. 

The advantages of North Carolina as a manufacturing section and 
the reasons that have made it so successful are thus obvious. Raw 
material at the mill door, a regular supply of cotton of even grade and 
staple, absence of obnoxious State restrictions and grandmotherly 
legislation on factory questions, plentiful supply of wood for fuel or 
proximity to water powers, and an abundance of cheap labor, have all 
had their influence. 

Perhaps the most potent reason has been the labor ; all through the 
State there seems to be an abundant supply of teachable and tractable 
help, especially in the foot-hills of the mountains. They make, with 
some little instruction, exceedingly satisfactory mill operatives, their 
only fault being a spirit of unrest, a desire to move about from mill 
to mill, rather than settle in one place. The opportunity of mill 
work is usually valuable to these people in consequence of their lack 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. lO/ 

of elementary education and consequent unsuitability for many indus- 
trial occupations. In the cotton mills, however, this lack of education 
is far from being a drawback and as before stated they are found to be 
excellent help. Another feature of the cotton mill industry in this 
State is the number of small mills. Usually this is considered a dis- 
advantage as the modern tendency is to increase the size of the mill 
to reduce the cost per pound of finished product. In North Carolina 
the small factory is a useful institution, as small communities that 
otherwise could not have a mill at all can often afford a small one; 
many small water-powers can be developed and utilized, and the small 
mill offers facilities for close supervision and for working up local 
supplies of cotton while the financial results often bear comparison 
with those of larger concerns. 

The future possibilities of cotton manufacturing in the State are 
great. The motive power applied is either water or steam. Of the 
former the aggregate is about 3,500,000 horse- powers. Professor Kerr 
.said that "if the whole of this were employed in manufacturing it 
would be adequate to turn 140,000,000 spindles. The water-power of 
North Carolina would manufacture three times the entire crop of the 
country, whereas all the mills on the continent only spin one-quarter 
of it. Putting the crop of the State at 400,000 bales, she has power to 
manufacture fifty times that quantity." 

The choice between water-power and steam is determined by the 
comparative economy in the use of either the one or the other. In 
many cases there will be no hesitation in the adoption of the first, for 
natural conditions at once emphasize the decision. At the falls of the 
Roanoke, of the Tar River, on the rapid declivities of Haw and Deep 
Rivers, on never-failing streams in Cumberland and Richmond Coun- 
ties, on the enormous forces of the two Catawbas, and perhaps else- 
where, a second thought would never be given to the application of 
any other power than that so exhaustlessly provided by nature and so 
easily and economically controlled. Elsewhere steam offers itself as 
the ready and convenient agent in such convenient form that the loca- 
tion of a new factory is rather made subservient to the convenience of 
transportation than to the character of the power to be applied; and 
thus it is that cotton factories are found everywhere in operation in 
the State, on the flat lands and by the sluggish waters of the eastern 
section, along the bold streams and the abundant water-falls in the 
middle section, or on the more turbulent torrents of the Mountain 
Region. 

As shown, there is practically no limit to the power available for 
mill purposes and there is no limit to the cotton available, as when the 
mills reach the point when they exhaust the supply available from the 
State, cotton will be shipped from the States less favorably situated for 
manufacturing, and as New England can employ 14,000,000 spindles, 
the Continent of Europe 27,000,000 and England 45,000,000, there is no 
reason why the mills in the South should not continue to multiply for 
many years to come. 

The products are varied and comprise yarns from the coarse car- 
pet warp to the skein yarns for lace curtains, while the weaving mills. 



I08 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

in addition to sheetings, shirtings and drills, make ginghams, plaids, 
chambrays, stripes, cheviots, calico cloth, towels, etc. There are also 
several mills engaged in making cotton ropes, cordage and webbing as 
well as a number of cotton knitting mills, both for socks and under- 
wear. 

The large increase of cotton mills has been the means of introduc- 
ing other industries, such as a card clothing factory, belting factories, 
reed and harness works, roll covering shops, machinery repair shops 
and many establishments for the manufacture of mill accessories, all 
adding to the prosperity of the State. 

The capital invested in cotton mills in North Carolina is, accord- 
ing to the census report for 1900, $33,011,516, and the annual output 
sells for $28,372,798. The average number of hands employed is 
30,273; these hands earn annually $5,127,087 for the day work alone. 

The number of mills 'reported in 1901 is as follows: Cotton mills 
225, running 1,680, 483 spindles and 36,052 looms; woollen mills 11; 
knitting mills, 46; silk mills, 3; carpet mills, 1. The number of wage 
earners employed in all these mills is 44,544. 

COTTON BY-PRODUCTS. 

One of the new industries is the crushing of cotton seed. Only a 
few years ago, cotton seed was not thought of as a marketable product. 
In 1900, there were in the United States three hundred and fifty-seven 
establishments for working up seed, and the annual output was re- 
ported as worth $42,411,835. Of these establishments 20 are in North 
Carolina, and the annual output of these twenty is valued at $2,676,871. 
It is now the sixth industry in importance in the State. The increase 
in the value of this product during the past decade was $2,147,125 or 
405.3 per cent. 

The physical constitution of a ton of Seed as it comes from the 
gin is as follows: 

Short lint ... . . .75 pounds. 

Hull . 915 " 

Oil . . . ... . 300 " 

Meal . ..... 610 " 

The short lint has a limited sale for use in batting and wadding. 
The hull is now extensively used as stock feed — it was formerly used 
as fuel at the mills. The oil is used to make lard, soap, candles, 
table or "olive" oil, to pack sardines, as a lubricant and for illumina- 
tion in mines, etc. The meal is used as a stock food and largely in 
the manufacture of fertilizers. The hull and meal mixed in proper 
proportions, make a very nearly complete food for the fattening of 
beef cattle. 

LUMBER AND TIMBER PRODUCTS. 

The manufacture of lumber and timber products (not including 
furniture factories, etc..) ranks second among the industries of the 
State. There were in 1900, 1,170 establishments, 11,751 wage-earners, 
and products valued at $14,862,593. The increase in the value of these 
products since 1890 was $8,963,851, or 152 per cent. 








V 



y 








A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. IO9 



TOBACCO MANUFACTURING. 

The table above shows that the third industry in remunerative 
value is tobacco manufacturing. Durham, Winston-Salem, Reidsville, 
Henderson, Wilson, Mount Airy, Statesville and Oxford, are the chief 
tobacco towns. The three first mentioned do most of the manufacturing. 
The largest fortunes in the State have been derived from this industry. 
Some of the brands manufactured here are noted the world over. 

Including the chewing, smoking, snuff, cigar, cigarette, stemming, 
and re-handing industries, the Census for 1900 reports one hundred and 
one establishments. State reports make the number one hundred and 
seventy-seven. The number of wage-earners is 7,032, and annual value 
of product $14,609,760. The increase in value in the product during 
the last decade was $8,837,332. 

FURNITURE FACTORIES. 

The greatest industrial development in the last decade has been in 
the rapid increase of furniture factories. In 1890, there were only szx 
establishments in the State, only 152 wage- earners, and the annual 
product was valued at only $159,000. In 1900 the six establishments 
had increased to forty- four, the 152 wage- earners had risen to 1,759, 
and the value of the product had changed from $159,000 to $1,388,305 
or 873.1 per cent. 

The little town of High Point is the pioneer and chief seat of this 
industry. During this decade the population of this town has in- 
creased about four- fold. 

So plentifully is the State supplied with the best varieties of hard 
woods that any other town, with the same pluck, could develop as 
rapidly into a rich industrial center. 

LEATHER WORKING. 

This industry has grown apace in recent years. In the tanning, 
currying and finishing of leather the number of establishments has in- 
increased from 55 to 75 in the past ten years; the number of wage- 
earners from 107 to 366, and the value of product from $190,887 to 
$1,311,491, or 687. 1 per cent. The ever- increasing use of machinery 
has of course, made the value of the output increase out of proportion 
to the increase in number of wage-earners. 

CHIEF MANUFACTURING CITIES AND TOWNS. 

y^ The census returns for 1900 give the following fifteen cities and 
towns as leading the other towns and cities in the State in the value 
of manufactured products. They are named in the order of their 
financial output. 

Durham, population 6,679; chief industry, tobacco manufacturing; 
number of manufacturing establishments, 82; capital invested, 
$1,727,205; average wage earners 2,787; total wages, $535,289; value of 
manufactured output, $7,084,540. 

Winston, population 10,008; chief industry, tobacco manufacturing; 



no A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

number of manufacturing establishments, 46; capital invested in these, 
$4,800,421; average wage earners, 3,420; total wages, $461,214; value of 
manufactured output, $5,436,030. 

Charlotte, population 18,091 ; chief industries, cotton milling and 
distribution of cotton mill machinery; number of manufacturing es- 
tablishments, 112; capital invested, $4,102,342; wage earners in these, 
2,988; total wages, $699,846; value of manufactured output, $4,702,301. 

Wilmington, population 20,976; number of establishments, 124; 
capital invested in these, $1,819,333; average wage earners, 1,469; total 
wages, 446,413; value of manufactured output, $2,246,237. 

Raleigh, capital, population 13,643; chief industry, cotton milling; 
number of manufacturing establishments, 135; capital invested in 
these, $1,611,089; average wage earners, 1,358; total wages, $441,038; 
value of manufactured output, $2,204,056. 

Salem, population 3,642; chief industry, mills and tobacco manu- 
facturing; number of manufacturing establishments, 34; capital in- 
vested, §1,375,661; wage earners, 1,506; total wages, $270,027; value of 
manufactured output, $2,067,240. 

Concord, population 7,910; chief industry, cotton milling; number 
of manufacturing establishments, 32; capital invested in these, 
$2,040,351; wage earners, 1,953; total wages, $410,215; value of manu- 
factured output, $1,981,411. 

Asheville, population 14,694; number of manufacturing establish- 
ments, 136; capital invested in these, $1,413,523; wage earners, 1,149; 
total wages, $357,411; value of manufactured products. $1,904,109. 

Greensboro, population 10,035; number of manufacturing establish- 
ments, 79; capital invested in these, $1,711,629; wage earners, 1,587; 
total wages to these, $152,048.00; value of manufactured products, 
$1,790,523. 

Newbern, population 9,090; number of manufacturing establish- 
ments, 81; capital invested in these, $1,027,885; wage earners, 1,162; 
total wages to these, $284,952; value of manufactured products, 
$1,704,251. 

Reidsville, population 3,262; chief industry, tobacco manufactur- 
ing; number of manufacturing establishments, 37; capital invested in 
these, $851,705; wage earners, 888; total wages to these, $169,545; 
value of manufactured products, $1,234,783. 

High Point, population 4,163; chief industry, furniture-making; 
number of manufacturing establishments, 47; capital invested in these, 
$834,673; wage earners, 1,116; total wages, $205,009; value of manufac- 
tured products, $1,178,715. 

Goldsboro, population 5,877; number of manufacturing establish- 
ments, 46; capital invested in these, $620,932; wage earners, 507; total 
wages, $123,899; value of manufactured products, $1,086,834. 

Salisbury, population 6,277; number of manufacturing establish- 
ments, 42; capital invested in these, $885,275; wage earners, 793; total 
wages, $163,401; value of manufactured products, $915,254. 

Fayetteville, population 4,670; chief industry, milling; number of 
manufacturing establishments, 46; capital invested in these, $446,970; 
wage earners, 461; total wages, $81,424; value of manufactured pro- 
ducts, $570,127. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. Ill 

COMMERCIAL FISHERIES. 



THE fishing industry of North Carolina ranks as one of the most 
important business enterprises of the State, and in the coastal 
regions is no doubt of greater value than any other single branch 
of trade. There are few States having so large a population so entirely 
dependent on the fisheries for a livelihood, the total number of the 
employees of the industry being over 12,000, and there are few sections 
in which the general facilities for prosecuting the industry are more 
favorable. The fisheries, therefore, possess a great economic interest 
to the State, and indirectly to the country at large; and a proper 
knowledge of the extent, conditions and needs of the industry becomes 
a matter of considerable importance to the citizens of the Common- 
wealth. 

The coast of North Carolina, following the outer shores, is only 
about three hundred miles long, but if the sounds, estuaries and other 
indentations are considered, a coast-line nearly one thousand five 
hundred miles in length is disclosed, along the entire extent of which 
the prosecution of commercial fishing is made possible by the con- 
figuration of the shores and the adjoining bottom, the absence of high 
or rocky shores, and the preponderance of low, sandy stretches and 
shallow water areas, permitting the employment of pound nets, seines, 
and gill nets under the most favorable circumstances. 

The characteristic physical features of the coastal regions of North 
Carolina are the low, narrow, sandy islands and peninsulas which skirt 
nearly the whole ocean front of the State, between which and the main- 
land are numerous sounds, some of large size, which are the principal 
fishing grounds, while the mainland is very irregular in outline, and 
is intersected by a number of large and small streams. 

The principal fishing grounds are the sounds and lower courses of 
the streams emptying into them. Fishing in the upper courses of the 
rivers is usually of a non-commercial nature, and is unimportant. 

The sounds of North Carolina are Currituck, Albemarle, Croatan, 
Roanoke, Pamlico, Core and Bogue, each of which deserves brief 
notice. 

Currituck Sound is the most northern sound in the State. It runs 
parallel with the coast, and extends from the Virginia State-line to 
the eastern end of Albemarle Sound, with which it merges. It is forty 
miles in length, and from three to four miles in width. For a body 
of water of such size the depth is extremely shallow, in no place being 
more than nine feet. Except during periods of dry weather the water 
is fresh, although at one time it communicated freely with the 
ocean by means of Caffey Inlet, which was closed in the year 1800. 
Prior to this time the sound contained marine fish, but at present only 
fresh water and anadromous fishes are found in it. Black bass (locally 
called chub) and white perch are very abundant, and at the proper sea- 
son rock and herring enter the sound in considerable numbers. The 
catch of black bass is probably greater than in any other part of the 
State, if not the largest in the country. The region is annually vis- 



112 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

ited by enormous numbers of wild fowl, and is one of the most noted 
hunting resorts on the Atlantic coast. 

Albemarle Sound and tributaries are next in order. This sound 
has the distinction of being the largest coastal body of fresh water in 
the world. Its extreme length from east to west is sixty miles, and 
its maximum width is fifteen miles, the average being six to eight 
miles, it therefore contains about four hundred and fifty square miles. 
The water is normally quite fresh, but during periods of excessively 
dry weather it becomes salt or brackish, especially at its eastern 
end, where it drains into Roanoke and Croatan Sounds. 

Of all the North Carolina sounds this is the most important from 
a fishery standpoint, and it is probable that there are few bodies of 
water of similar size in the world having more extensive fisheries. It 
is especially remarkable for its level bottom and uniform depth of 
water, and the absence of strong currents and tides, except those of 
infrequent occurrence resulting from gales. The importance is due to 
the fact that the region is annually visited by enormous bodies of 
shad, ale-wives, striped bass and other desirable economic species, 
and the natural conditions permit the employment of seines, pound 
nets, gill nets and other devices in almost limitless numbers. 

Eight rivers enter the sound, four on the north, two on the west, 
and two on the south, in nearly all of which more or less extensive 
fisheries are carried on. The Chowan and Roanoke Rivers, which flow 
into the western end of the sound, are among the largest and most im- 
portant in the State, and have large fisheries in the portion adjacent to 
their mouths. The North, Pasquotank, Little and Perquimans Riv- 
ers on the north, and the Scuppernong and Alligator Rivers on the 
south, are short, wide streams, the most important as regards fisheries 
being the Pasquotank and Alligator. 

Roanoke and Croatan Sounds lie to the south of the eastern end of 
Albemarle Sound, and extend parallel with the coast; they are sepa- 
rated by Roanoke Island. Roanoke Sound lies to the east of the 
island, and is eight miles long and one and one-half to two miles wide. 
It is very shallow throughout its length, except in a narrow chan- 
nel which skirts the shore of the island. Croatan Sound has 
the same length as Roanoke Sound, but is two to four miles wide and 
is much deeper. Most of the drainage from Albemarle sound passes 
through it. The combined area of these bodies of water is seventy- 
five miles. Important gill net and other fisheries are prosecuted in 
these sounds. 

Pamlico Sound and tributaries are of commanding importance. 
With the exception of Long Island Sound, this is the largest sound 
on the Atlantic coast of the United States. It is about seventy-five 
miles long, and from ten to thirty miles wide, the area being about 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty square miles. On the north 
it communicates with Albemarle Sound, through Roanoke and Croatan 
Sounds, and much of the water of Albemarle Sound finds entrance into 
the ocean through it; on the south it joins Core Sound. The general 
depth is fifteen to twenty feet. The sound is separated from the ocean 
by long, narrow strips of sandy land called "Banks," through which 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. TI3 

the water of the sound finds exit at New, Hatteras and Ocracoke Inlets, 
The land known as the "Banks," consist chiefly of low, barren sand 
hills, with occasional patches of scrubby vegetation. Two important 
rivers, the Pamlico and Neuse, enter the sound from the west, their 
mouths being broad estuaries in which considerable fishing is done. 
Pamlico Sound contains a great wealth of both fresh- water and salt- 
water fish. The large bodies of anadromous fish which occur in the 
sounds to the north all pass through it. The salinity of the water 
permits the entrance of menhaden, squeteague, spots, mullet, sheeps- 
head, whiting, hogfish, bluefish, etc., in large numbers. Large areas 
are covered with a natural growth of oysters, a product which has 
recently attained marked prominence. 

Core and Bogue Sounds, communicating with Pamlico Sound on 
the north, and extending first in a southwesterly and then in a westerly 
direction, form a long and narrow body of water about fifty miles in 
length, and from one to six miles in width. Their area is about one 
hundred and sixty-five square miles. These communicate with the 
ocean through Beaufort, Bear and Bogue Inlets. The water is very 
shoal, varying from one to ten feet, and not averaging more than four 
or five. The people living on the shore of these sounds are very 
generally dependent on the water for a livelihood, and the fisheries 
carried on are very extensive. The principal species taken are 
mullet, squeteague, bluefish, spots, hogfish, Spanish mackerel and 
whiting. The catch of the two first-named fish is larger than in any 
other body of water on the Atlantic Coast. 

Other Sounds. — South of Bogue Sound the coast is fringed with 
five small shallow sounds, known as Stump, Topsail, Middle, Mason- 
boro and Myrtle Sounds. These have but little bearing on the 
fisheries at present, and are chiefly important because of the possi- 
bilities they have for oyster production and cultivation. White Oak 
and New Rivers, the only streams of importance between Beaufort 
entrance and the Cape Fear River, also have natural oyster beds. 
New River, in the opinion of Lieut. Winslow and many others, con- 
tains some of the finest oyster ground in the world, although the 
absence of shipping facilities until a very recent date has delayed the 
development of this important resource. 

Fishing in the ocean is prosecuted with gill-nets and seines at 
many places along the coast, but is especially important on the shore 
between Cape Hatteras and Currituck Sound, where the winter fishery 
for bluefish has become famous. The species taken in greatest num- 
bers, are, in addition to bluefish, trout, spot, mullet, drum, whiting, 
Spanish mackerel and sheepshead. 

In the vicinity of Wilmington, considerable line fishing is done at 
times on the blackfish banks located several miles off shore, sea bass, 
grunts and pigfish being the species taken. 

The outside fisheries in the vicinity of Beaufort and Morehead are 
also of great importance. Mullet, bluefish, Spanish mackerel and the 
sea trouts (weakfish) are the species chiefly caught in large quantities, 
and these, together with the miscellaneous and smaller bunch fishes, 
are shipped fresh almost entirely. Quite a number of mullets, how- 
ever, are salted down and disposed of in that shape. 



I 14 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The great fish shipping centers of the State are Currituck, Eliza- 
beth City, Edenton, Manteo, Washington, Morehead, Beaufort, New- 
Bern and Wilmington. 

The relative importance of the different kinds of fishing and of the 
species taken, varies somewhat from year to year, but the following 
list will give a fairly accurate idea of the subject: 

Shad. — This fish is caught chiefly in the Albemarle Sound and 
around Roanoke Island and in the adjacent waters. It is disposed of 
entirely in a fresh condition, and is the best money fish in the regions 
where caught. The total catch in this State approaches half a million 
dollars in value. 

Next in importance among the water products is the oyster, the 
annual production of which is not less than a million bushels, with a 
value of over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Some oysters 
are shipped in the shell, but the greater part of the fresh stock are 
shucked and shipped in bulk; that is in five or ten gallon lots. A 
large proportion of the catch is canned. 

The herring or alewife is third in importance, and in this case the 
greater bulk of the catch is salted and disposed of in the cured state, 
chiefly locally. Possibly a third of the total output is shipped fresh. 

Mullet is the next on the list and here we find a production of over 
a hundred thousand dollars. About twenty per cent, of the catch is 
salted and barreled while the remaining eighty per. cent, is iced and 
shipped in the fresh state. 

The salt water trout, or weakfish, is of about equal value with the 
mullet and possibly their relative position should be reversed. Only 
a small proportion is disposed of in other than a fresh condition, the 
great bulk being iced and boxed in the usual way. 

Striped bass, chiefly a product of the Albemarle region, is not 
salted at all, its value in the fresh state being too great to admit of 
anything beyond the proper careful icing and packing for shipment 
for immediate consumption or for cold storage. 

Clams come seventh, with an annual production of about a million 
pounds valued at more than fifty thousand dollars. 

The bluefish, a product of the salt water almost entirely, is next 
in order and here again the bulk of the catch goes forward on ice al- 
though some fifteen or twenty per cent, are salted, chiefly for local 
consumption. 

The fresh water perch follow the above in order of importance and 
they are consumed entirely in the fresh state. They command good 
prices locally as "pan" fish, apart from their value as shipping stock. 
Production, nearly a million pounds. 

The same conditions prevail regarding black bass, the catch for 
the State coming mostly from the fresh waters of Currituck Sound. 
The catch of these amounts to over half a million pounds per annum, 
with a value of twenty- five thousand dollars. 

Last of the eleven most important fishes comes the menhaden, or 
fatback, caught entirely for the oil and the fish scrap resulting from 
the extraction of the oil. The catch of this fish with us runs up to 
some ten or fifteen million pounds annually with a value of over fifty 
thousand dollars for the product manufactured therefrom. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. II5 

The total annual value of our fishery products now amounts to 
over a million and a half dollars and is steadily increasing. 

Oysters, etc. — In the saline waters of North Carolina abound oysters, 
clams, scallops, crabs, shrimp, and diamond-back terrapin. In com- 
mercial importance the oyster is of far greater value than all the others 
combined, and will be treated accordingly in what follows. 

The abundance in which oysters were found along the Atlantic 
coast of the United States, and their superior excellence, made them 
at once, upon the settlement of the country along the waters which 
provided them, an article both of subsistence and luxury. With the 
increase of interior population and the provision of quick and ready 
means of transportation, the use of them was enormously enlarged, 
and the distribution of them, in all the forms of use, became co-ex- 
tensive with the American continent, and was not confined to that 
broad area, for Europe, in the diminution of its own supplies, and 
also in its recognition of the superiority of the American oyster, has 
been for a number of years a large consumer. The consequence is the 
depletion of many grounds once regarded as inexhaustible, the dimi-' 
nution in other waters where diminution seemed impossible, followed 
by the assertion of local rights, attempts at the exclusion of invading 
trespassers, contention, bloodshed; finally legislative action and the 
effort to define rights by law, with power to assert and secure them by 
force; and all this made necessary because human nature knows no 
moderation in the use of the abundant free gifts of Providence, or 
in the attainment of that which leads to competency or wealth. 

It happens that there remains one treasure-house not yet plundered, 
one great water granary whose doors are not yet thrown wide open. 
North Carolina, overlooked and despised in the Eldorado of the Chesa- 
peake, now, when the glories of the latter are fading, is found to pos- 
sess what, with prudence, patience, legislative wisdom and local self- 
control, may be converted into a field quite as prolific as the once teem- 
ing oyster waters of Maryland and Virginia. Its sounds, its bays and 
its creeks, extending along the coast for hundreds of miles, give prom- 
ise of natural conditions that will assure in time as large a product as 
ever existed in other waters. Some of these North Carolina waters 
are too much freshened by the influx of fresh water rivers to have been 
the habitat of the native oyster, or to be made available as beds for 
artificial culture; but in all the other waters which exist in the largest 
proportion, to which the salt waters of the ocean have ready access, 
the native oyster has always been found, and of great excellence. In 
the depletion of the oyster grounds of the Chesapeake and other waters, 
the enterprise of the oystermen of those localities was on the alert to 
save their industries from ruin, and the invasion of the North Caro- 
lina waters was rewarded with the discovery of a large relatively un- 
tried area. To check what threatened to effect here what had been 
done elsewhere, and to secure the people of North Carolina in the 
possession of their rights, the aid of legislation was earnestly invoked. 

The natural beds have now been defined and located, and under 
recent laws much additional area adjacent to them has been set apart 
and excepted from entry. These areas are the public grounds, and by 



Il6 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

law they include the natural beds and sufficient area adjacent and sur- 
rounding them to provide for their natural expansion. The provi- 
sion for allowance for natural expansion has been liberally construed, 
as will be seen by the following summary of the areas of the natural 
beds and public grounds: 





Area 


Area 


County. 


Public Grounds. 


Natural Beds, 


Dare 


4,604.16 


2,118.25 


Hyde . 


6,891.94 


1,642.90 


Pamlico . 


4, 495. 61 


437. 00 


Carteret 


4,561.40 


1,012.50 


Total 


. , 20,553.11 


5, 210. 65 



Or the area of the public grounds exceeds that of the natural beds 
by 15,343 acres. The natural beds of that portion of the State not 
under the operation of the new law comprise 3,381 acres, or the total 
acreage of natural beds is 8,591. 

The area reserved for the common fishery is thus ample for all 
time to come, and as these areas are excepted from entry, and as they 
include the natural beds, not only is an entry or appropriation of a 
natural bed prevented, but no person can, practically, enter near a 
natural bed. At the same time, as the grounds open to the general 
fishery are defined and known, the private cultivator is free from dep- 
redation under guise of the exercise of the common right of fishery. 
Thus the source of complaint of all classes interested is removed. 

The oysters taken at the different points in the sounds and estu- 
aries vary much in size, shape and flavor. The New River oysters 
are much prized for size and flavor, and are probably the best known 
abroad. But the markets of Wilmington. New Bern, Washington and 
other points are supplied from their various oyster grounds with a 
shellfish of a quality not inferior to those taken at New River. With 
the care in cultivation, and the protection given by law, it is only a 
question of time when the waters of North Carolina will yield as 
abundantly as the waters of the Chesapeake have done, and, in quality 
of the oyster, with no inferiority. 

The diamond back terrapin is found in all the coast country, a 
delicacy in such demand and of such value as to have become the sub- 
ject of legislative protection and of artificial cultivation. 

Clams abound, and are now recognized as valuable members of the 
class of mollusks. They are shipped in large quantities from New Bern, 
Morehead City and many other points. 

The same may be said of scallops, soft-shell crabs and shrimp. 
These delicacies are abundant and find ready sale both in local and dis- 
tant markets. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. II7 

PUBLIC ROADS. 



PUBLIC roads should mean good roads, and this will be a fact when 
the communities at large realize that good roads are cheaper in 
the end than poor ones. Our roads are of the first importance in 
keeping communication open between the people of the town and 
those of the country, and the intercourse between these two peoples 
will be governed by the condition of the roads; but the worse roads 
will always react to the greater disadvantage of the people of the 
county. Widely separated localities are brought into close communi- 
cation with each other, and instead of only meeting with one another 
on court days, there will be almost constant intercourse, and there will 
be developed among the people a more liberal public spirit; a clearer 
understanding of the needs of town, county and State, where before he 
has allowed himself to be satisfied with his farm and the small section 
of country lying between it and town, and a higher appreciation of his 
neighbor. Good results will also be obtained for the town, inasmuch 
as good roads will attract the people of our cities and towns out into 
the surrounding country, where they will meet and know the farmer 
on his own ground, instead of always on theirs. They will learn to 
appreciate the worth of a rural community and to accept the criticisms 
of its citizens on the affairs of State as valuable and founded upon 
deep thinking and practical experience, for they will find many times 
that the farmer is the best equipped and all-round man in the State. 
He, the farmer, will become more so as he has better opportunity for 
intercourse with his neighbors of country and town. 

Bad roads are a heavy tax to all who have to use thern, not only on 
account of the breakage to wagons and the wearing out of stock, but 
also to the loss of time and extra expense in the hauling of produce to 
and from town. To illustrate, on a good road one horse can haul four 
bales of cotton, while on a poor road one bale to a horse is the limit 
and sometimes it take two horses to one bale. In other words it costs 
at least four times as much to haul a bale of cotton over a poor road as 
over a good one. It also prevents the farmer from taking advantage 
of any sudden advance in the price of the commodity that he has to 
market. Then again, bad roads effectually shut out business men of 
our cities from making their homes in the country as it would be a too 
long and tedious journey to and fro. While the actual productive 
value of two farms may be identical, yet the one on a good, smooth 
road will be worth a great deal more than the other, for the actual net 
earnings of the farm on the good road will be largely in excess of the 
other. 

Good roads mean better educational facilities in our rural districts, 
for there will not be necessary so many school districts and so much 
division of the school fund. The districts can be more consolidated, 
thus permitting of larger and better schools, which can be graded, and 
thus insure better teaching and more enthusiasm on the part of both 
pupil and teacher. 

Good public roads also mean more extensive free rural mail delivery, 
which is of the utmost advantage to the residents of a scattered com- 
munity as it brings them in daily touch with the outside world. 



Il8 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The best and only permanent road to make is a stone road; but 
where this is impracticable, the road should be improved by grading, 
draining, and, where necessary, changing the location of the old road. 
Where possible macadamized roads should be made, even if only a mile 
a year can be constructed. In the western counties there is an ample 
supply of stone for this purpose, but in the eastern counties where the 
surface of the country is nearly level, stone for macadamizing purposes 
is scarce, or entirely lacking. These latter counties, however, do have 
means at hand, with which they can improve their roads with a small 
expenditure of money. Many of the sandy roads can be be greatly im- 
proved by the admixture of clay, which is often to be found directly 
alongside of the road. In a number of these counties limestone and shell 
rock can be obtained at intervals and they make a very serviceable and 
permanent road. Such roads have been made at New Bern and Golds- 
boro. Oyster and other shells readily lend themselves to road building, 
and after being driven over for a short time make a very hard, smooth 
and permanent road which is very easily kept in repair, as has been 
shown in the case of the shell road between Wilmington and Wrights- 
ville, New Hanover County. Where the road bed is of a clayey nature 
it can often be improved by the admixture of sand and gravel, and 
wherever such roads are crossed by streams, sand and gravel can 
nearly always be obtained. 

In the central and western counties of the State the rock is for the 
most part granitic in character, some of which is too soft for road 
purposes; but there is always to be found harder and tougher rocks as 
hornblende granite, diorite trap, and other eruptive rocks. Often 
these rocks can be obtained alongside of the road that is to be maca- 
damized, so that the crusher can be constantly moved to more favorable 
positions as the work progresses. Where railroads are convenient, 
the crushed stone can be cheaply transported to points where the maca- 
dam is needed. 

The construction of stone roads has been undertaken in Mecklen- 
burg, Wake, Buncombe, Durham, Alamance, Cabarrus, Haywood, and 
to a limited extent in Forsyth, Rowan, Granville and Guilford Coun- 
ties. In many of the central and western counties the roads have been 
improved by grading, draining, etc. Of the eastern counties consid- 
erable improvement has been made to the roads by means of shells, 
limestone and shell rocks, in New Hanover, Wayne, Lenoir, Edge- 
combe and Craven Counties. 

Mecklenburg County is the pioneer in the construction of good 
roads, and now it has a net work of splendid macadamized roads ex- 
tending in all directions from Charlotte to the county lines. This 
system of building a certain amount of macadamized road each year 
until all parts of the country shall be accessible by good roads, is 
being instituted by a number of the counties. 

The employment of convict labor on the public roads has been in a 
large measure the basis of all permanent road improvement in the State, 
The value of this convict labor is roughly estimated at 75 cents per 
day, but it would be difficult to estimate in money the real value to 
trhe people of the public roads which have been constructed in this 
way. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. II9 

The method of building and repairing roads bj' the old labor sys- 
tem will never make good roads in a county, but there must be a 
direct taxation to raise funds for this purpose, which will also provide 
for the necessary machines for road building, etc. The labor system 
is still in vogue in many of the counties, especially in those in the 
mountainous sections of the State, and it is in these that the roads are 
the poorest. In others, convict labor is employed, but there are little 
or no funds for machines, and while they get a better road than the 
former counties, they are not permanent.' 

Regarding the practical value of good roads, the most convincing 
proof that one would wish is the testimony of those counties that have 
them. In Mecklenburg County, when the subject of good roads was 
first considered, it met with strong opposition from both city and 
country, the former not wishing to be taxed for roads built in the 
country and the latter not seeing any advantage to be gained, and 
were satisfied with things as they were. Now all the people both in 
the city and in the country favor the method in use for building good 
public roads. This is the same opinion of the people of Wake, Dur- 
ham, Buncombe, and all the counties that have thoroughly tried the 
system of building permanent macadamized roads. 

The State realizes the value of good roads in that they will attract 
capital, while poor roads will repel. 

The road congresses that have recently been held at a number of 
the cities in the State have given a strong stimulus to the good road 
movement, and the last one which was held at Raleigh, February 11 to 
15, 1902, was well attended by citizens from all over the State. It has 
aroused a great deal of enthusiasm which will undoubtedly lead to 
practical results. The Congress has led to the formation of the 
North Carolina Good Roads Association, the officers of which are as 
follows: P. H. Hanes, Winston-Salem, President; J. A. Holmes, 
Chapel Hill, Secretary; and Joseph G. Brown, Raleigh, Treasurer. 



RAILROADS AND STEAMBOATS. 



[ORTH Carolina is ramified by three great railway systems, and by a 
good many individual lines and factions of larger systems. The 
three large systems are the Atlantic Coast Line System, the 
Southern Railway System and the Seaboard Air Line System. Chief 
among the individual lines are the following: Atlantic and North 
Carolina, Ohio River and Charleston, Chester and Lenoir, Wilmington, 
Newbern and Norfolk. The Norfolk and Western and Norfolk and 
Southern have sections of their lines in the State. 

The total railway mileage in the State amounts to 3,651, and the 
total valuation of the railway property is $42,375,651. The telegraph 
systems of the State are valued at $904, 200. The total steamboat prop- 
erty amounts to $220,471. 



120 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



NAME OF ROAD. 



Atlantic Coast Line System. 



Albermarlfiand Raleifirh 

Cheraw and Darlington 

Petersburg 

W'mington,Columbia& Augusta 
W'mington,ChaiJburu & Conway 

Wihningtoii and Weldon 

Norfolk anrl Carolina 

Tarboro Branch 

Scotland Neck Branch 

Midland Branch 

Wilson & Fayetteville Branch. . . 

Nashville Branch . . 

Clinton Branch 

Washington Branch 

Total 



Southern Railway System. 



Atlanta and Charlotte Air-Line 
Atlantic, Tennessee and Ohio.., 

Asheville and Spartanburg 

Charlotte, Colunabia & Augusta 

Danville and Western 

H. Pt. R., Ashboro & Southern. 

Coster & Thomas, Trustees 

North Carolina 

North Carolina Midland 



Northwestern North Carolina. . 

Oxford and Clarksville 

Oxford and Hendei-aon 

Piedmont 

State University 

States ville and Western. 



Mileage 



West'u N. Carolina 



Yadkin. 
Total 



I 120.35<g8,50C' 
i 85.60" 8,000 
/ 12&.55" 3,500 



Seaboard Air-Line System. 

Palmetto 

1 ^5.29 S 4,iiOO 
Carolina Central . ■{ 53.10 " 9,000 

I 25.58 " 6,000 

Durham and Northern. 

Georgia, Carolina and Northern 

Louisburg 

Murfreesboro 

Pittsboro 

Raleigh and Gaston 

Raleijf h and Augusta 

Roanoke and Tar River 

^eaboard and Roanoke 

Total 



54 23 
14.41 
7.67 
66. H4 
25.63 

174.08 
68.73 
15. Ui 
88.63 
21.63 

121.. ^0 
19.. 53 
13 51 
25.69 

716.91 



48.87 
45,43 
43.95 
14.68 
.75 
30.25 

'226;20 
26.98 
29.74 
75.84 
51.96 
14.39 
46.57 
10.56 
21 12 

331.50 

43.90 



1,063.69 



7.33 

283.97 

43 87 
15.86 
10 33 
6 29 
12.30 

113.53 
10.72 

105.18 
35.71 
20.38 

685.47 



4,000 
3,000 

10,000 

10.000 
2,500 

10,000 
8.500 
8,500 
6,000 
3,000 

lO.OCM) 
3.500 
3,500 
4,000 



10,000 
5,500 
7.000 
8,500 
3,000 
3.500 



Value of 
Track. 



Rolling 
Stock. 



S 316,920 00 ? 

4:;,2;50 00 

76,700 00 

066,400 00 

63.825 00 

l,740,8u0 00 

584,205 00 

128,350 00 

531,780 00 

64,8!!0 00 

1,215,000 00 

68,35'. 00 

47,390 Oil 

1(j2,760 00 



31,370 00 

2,998 25 

11,125 0;! 

95,942 44 

4,080 rO 

279,322 00 

112„529 16 

16,4o5 00 

96 3.53 00 

4,000 00 

224,748 00 

12,207 00 

8,7.=i8 00 

18,587 00 



$5,550,605 00 $918,474 93 



488,700 00 
249,865 00 
307,650 00 
124,780 00 
2,250 00 
105.875 00 



8.000 
2,.^) 
6,500 
3,000 
4,500 
3,500 
10,000 
i',000 
2,L*00 
8,500 
8,000 
3,500 
2,500 



2,000 



4,500 
9,000 
3,00(J 
2.000 
2,000 

10,000 
3,000 
9,000 
4,000 

10,000 



1,809,600 00 
67,450 W 

420,830 00 

233,820 00 
50,365 00 

465,700 00 
31,120 CO 
42,240 00 

2,147,200 0"3 

109,750 00 



16,647,195 00 



14,660 00 

1,.55%185 00 

197.415 00 

142,740 00 

30,990 00 

12,580 00 

24,600 00 

1,135,300 00 

32,160 f 

946.620 ( 

142 840 CO 

203,800 (X.i 



Other 
Property. 



Total 
Valuation. 



11,745 00 

2.520 001 

1,000 00 

9,772 00 

.500 00 

80,440 00 
9,210 00 
5,400 00 

22,170 Oil 
85 00 

26,985 00 
2,910 00 
1,260 00 

15,320 00 



i 260,0-35 00 

48,748 25 

88.825 08 

772,114 44 

68,405 00 

2,100,562 00 

705.944 16 

1.50,205 00 

650,303 00 

(^8,975 00 

1,466,133 00 

83,502 00 

57,408 00 

136,667 00 



$ 189,347 00 $6,658,426 93 



40,623 98 

5.9:W 00 

17,921 89 

23,049 34 



8,565 00 



114,708 00 

27,115 00 

14,7.56 80 
8,765 CO 

""2,51.5 '66 



5,430 00 
6,650 00 
3,350 00 
3,690 00 



4,140 00 



118,64» 00 

8,310 00 

$39^905 01 



1,598 00 
311,477 00 

17,420 on 

4,324 94 



301,570 00 
24,058 00 



43,000 58 



150,309 on 

3,860 00 

12,300 00 

5,875 00 
2, -00 CO 
4,6.30 00 
1,000 00 
3,950 00 

43,330 00 

4,000 00 



$ 255,014 00 



75 00 
26,655 00 



5,800 

3,.500 

450 

200 

400 

23.375 

13,800 

4,420 
2,900 



.?4,438,890 00 $603,448 52 S 80,575 00 



534,753 98 

262,445 00 

328,821 89 

151,719 34 

2,2.50 00 

118.580 00 

10,000 00 

1,802,767 00 

71,310 00 

460,245 00 

354,451 80 
61,630 00 

470,330 00 
24,635 00 
46.190 00 

2,309,075 00 

122,060 00 



$7,031,264 01 



16,333 00 

1,793,317 00 

320,635 00 

149,564 94 

31,440 00 

12,780 00 

25,000 00 

1,460,24.) 00 

1,016,638 00 

147,2' 00 
249,700 58 



$5,123,fil3 53 











iff, ' ■ ■ ■ 



SOUTHERN RAILWAY — ACCENT UK l;l.LE KIDCE — T11K0U(JH TWU TUNNELS. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



121 



NAME OF ROAD. 



Miscellaneous. 

Aberdeen and Rock-Fish — 

Aberdeen and West Rr.d 

Atlantic and North Carolina... 

Atlantic and Danville 

Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley. . . 

Carthage 

Cashie and Chowan 

Wellington and Powellsville — 

Ohio Kiver and Charleston 

Danville, Mocksville&Southw'n 
E.Tennessee & W. N. Carolina.. 

Egypt 

GlendoD & Gulf Mf>r. & Min. Co. 

Northampton and Hertford 

Hoffman and Troy 

Jamesville and Washington 

Chester and Lenoir 

Marietta and North Georgia..., 

Norfolk and Southern 

New Hanover Transit Co 

Norfolk and Western 

Roanoke & Southern Division 
Lynchburg & Durham Divison 

Moore County 

Raleich and AVestern 

Suffolk and Carolina 

Suffolk Lumber Company 

' Warrenton 

W'raington, Newbern& Norfolk 
Wilmington Railway Bridge Co. 
Wilmington Sea Coast 

Winton 

Total 



Other 
Property. 



Total 
Valuation. 



200 00 31,300 00 



2,400 00 




91,442 50 

619,100 00 

iai,ft34 90 

2,041.290 (M) 

■18 200 00 

4(l,2')0 00 

32,150 00 

346,6«.'> 00 
21.000 00 
18..=il5 00 
28.365 00 
18,685 00 
31,075 00 
8.4.50 00 
23,800 00 

205,725 00 
56,700 00 



122 A SKETCn OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

HEALTH AND PLEASURE RESORTS. 



THE geographical location and geological formation of the State 
are peculiarly adapted to the production of those conditions which 
make for health in general. As to climate, we occupy the vantage- 
ground of the golden mean, inclining somewhat to the warmer side. It 
is neither too hot nor too cold. While we have a generous summer, long 
enough to mature two crops of many kinds, the thermometer does not 
rise as high as it often does far to the northward of us, and the summer 
temperature is not usually oppressive. We also, have a sufficiency of 
winter, with occasional light snows, and once in every few years, ice 
thick enough to skate on in safety, and with rain and dark days, but 
on the whole it is bright and sunshiny. The late Bishop Lyman, who 
lived many years in Italy, said that the climate of Raleigh was 
superior to that of Florence — more sunshine in it. Our winters are 
just long enough and severe enough to restore the snap and vigor and 
elasticity that may have been weakened by the summer — we are en- 
abled to fully recoup any physical wastes attributaT3le to long contin- 
ued heat. The conditions, so far as they relate to the proportion of 
heat and cold, are just those which, while permitting easy and com- 
fortable living from the opportunities afforded for work throughout 
the entire year — the special advantage of the South — do not enervate 
and weaken the desire and power of work. In a word, the conditions 
are exactly suited to the healthful and pleasant existence of the aver- 
age man. 

Although it is not as dry as it is in some sections of our country, 
still in our long leaf pine, sand hill region, where the porous soil takes 
up the water so rapidly that one can walk dry-shod in a half-hour after 
the heaviest rain, it is dry enough for the consumptive, and yet he 
can enjoy the sight and smell of the ' ' blessed rain from heaven, ' ' and 
be lulled to sleep by its patter on the roof. Neither can we boast so 
great elevation as some other localities, but in the matter of altitude 
we have sufficient variety, from the sea-level to Mitchell's Peak, of 
nearly 7,000 feet, to suit any constitution. Roan Mountain, which it 
is interesting to know has a greater variety of flora between its sum- 
mit and half-way to its base than the whole continent of Europe, is 
noted for the relief its rare pure air affords to the sufferer from hay- 
fever. For consumptives the high mountain plateau of Asheville and 
vicinity, including particularly the country about Highlands and 
Blowing Rock, affords very favorable conditions. To those of this 
class who do not bear high attitudes well the pure dry air of the pine- 
clad sand hills of Moore and adjoining counties, of which Southern 
Pines is the centre, often proves a healing balm. It is said by many 
who have tried the pine country further south and that of our State, 
that they prefer the latter because the climate is not so enervating. 

In this day of scientific accuracy an appeal to carefully collated facts 
is desirable. Upon turning to the mortuary tables of the Fifth Bien- 
nial Report of the State Board of Health, we find that the average total 
death rate in the larger cities and towns where the records are care- 




VIEWS AT MOREHEAD AND BEAUFORT. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 23 

fully kept is 15. 5 per thousand — for the whites 12.5, and for the colored 
20. It is interesting to note that in those located in the so-called 
malarious section the death rate is actually less than the average for 
the whole number. 

The machinery provided by the State for protecting the health of 
its citizens consists of a State Board and of County Superintendents 
of Health — to say nothing of municipal organizations for that pur- 
pose. The former has general supervision of the sanitary interests of 
the people and the latter are charged with the particular care of those 
in their respective counties. Any special information that may be 
desired can be obtained by addressing the Secretary of the State Board 
at Raleigh. 

MINERAL SPRINGS. 

Perhaps this State, with all its advantages of health, climate, 
soil and natural resource, stands as little in need of the health- 
giving waters so widely distributed by nature's munificent hand, as 
any on the continent. But it seems that the scriptural assertion that 
" unto every one that hath shall be given," holds good with North 
Carolina. Certainly almost all parts of the State boast of some min- 
eral spring whose waters bring health by assisting nature in restoring 
the afflicted. True, these are mostly of local fame but there are some, 
which, without disparagement to the others, may be briefly alluded to 
because of accessability and that indispensible desideratum — good 
hotels. 

Hot Springs. — Some thirty-seven miles west of Asheville, on the 
French Broad River, is located the Hot Springs, known for nearly a 
century as "Warm Springs, and famed for the virtue of its thermal 
waters. The waters bubble in bold volume near the river at a tem- 
perature varying from 98 degrees to 104 degrees, and it is claimed are 
very effective in baths and for drinking, for rheumatism, gout, ner- 
vous prostration, dyspepsia and in some forms of malarial trouble. 

All the conveniences of modern fashionable hotels are provided. 
The bathing facilities are ample and lavish. It is the resort of 
fashion and wealth as well as the afflicted. 

Haywood White Sulphur Springs. — Within a fraction of a mile 
from the town of Waynesville on the Murphy branch of the Western 
North Carolina Railroad, is the charmingly located White Sulphur 
Springs. The water is distinctly sulphur, is cool and not unpleasant 
to the taste, and is claimed to be efficient, when taken fresh from the 
spring, in troubles requiring either diuretic or diaphoretic treatment. 
It is not a potable water. The hotel is well equipped to entertain 
the guests who flock to its hospitable board each season. And in this 
respect the town of Waynesville divides the honors, as it is a much 
frequented resort. 

Glen Alpine Springs. — Beautifully situated among the South Moun- 
tains in Burke County, and some eleven miles from Morganton, and 
which may also be reached from Glen Alpine station on the Western 
North Carolina Railroad, is the Glen Alpine Springs. The water con- 



124 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tains quite a variety of beneficial mineral, such as potassium and so- 
dium sulphate, calcium and magnesium carbonate, carbonate of iron, 
etc. There a small but comfortable hotel awaits the guests. 

Connelly Springs. — This favorite resort is ten miles west of 
Hickory, at Connelly Station, on the Western North Carolina Railroad. 
It has been growing in popularity for a number of years, and to its 
chalybeate waters are attributed many virtues, being diuretic in effect, 
as well as efficacious in dyspepsia and like troubles. The hotel is 
large and affords many comforts and conveniences. It is within a few 
yards of the railroad track, and far enough west to afford a pleasant 
summer climate for its large patronage. 

Sparkling Catawba Springs. — Eight miles north from Hickory, on 
the Western North Carolina and Carolina and Northwestern Railroads, 
situate in a vast grove of forest trees, may be found the ever popular 
Sparkling Catawba Springs. The country surrounding the springs is 
beautiful, partly wooded and partly in field and orchard, affording 
luscious fruits in season. 

"The hotel accommodations are ample; the waters of the 
springs embrace blue and white sulphur, and chalybeate and, from the 
known benefit derived by well-attested cures in their use as an altera- 
tive and tonic influence over the lymphatic and secretive glands they 
are unsurpassed, and never fail to strengthen the gastric juices of the 
stomach and increase the appetite, assist the digestion and promote 
the assimilation of food, thereby imparting tone and health to the 
person. ' ' 

Vade Mecum Springs. — These springs, located in Stokes County, 
are now owned and operated by the Vade Mecum Spring Company, of 
Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The waters are widely known as a 
specific in all diseases of the liver, stomach and bowels. In all blood 
taints and poisons relief is usually found in the liberal use of this 
water and in all morbid conditions from mal-nutrition also. Kidney, 
bladder and uterine diseases are also benefitted by its use. Hotel 
accommodations are ample and the springs are now operated as an all- 
the-year-round resort. The water is shipped in large quantities to a 
constantly increasing circle of users. 

Barium Springs. — A few miles from Statesville, in Iredell County, 
is situated the "Poison Spring," as it was formerly known. It is 
now called the Barium Spring. Analyses show that it contains, in 
varying proportions, barium chloride and sulphate, iron, soda, sul- 
phur, magnesia and phosphoric acid in such combinations as to render 
it a curative and tonic agent, the equal of any mineral water known. 
It has no visible outflow, and the water remains at a constant level, 
never freezes, never stagnates, and it will keep pure and retain its 
curative efficiency indefinitely. 

There is no development of the locality as a resort but the Presby- 
terian Orphanage is located near the spring. It is a remarkably 
healthy locality. 

Moore Spring. — Not far from Danbury, in Stokes County, is situ- 
ate the Moore Spring, which is said to be remarkable for its efficacy 
in the treatment of cutaneous affections and blood impurities. It is 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 125 

not a resort, but is remarkable from the mineral contents of its waters. 
Chemists report potassium and sodium sulphates, sodium chloride and 
phosphate, calcium^and magnesium carbonates in rather astonishing 
quantities. 

Piedmont Springs. — Also in Stokes County, near Danbury.are to be 
found the Piedmont Springs, which are in high repute as a tonic and 
alterative water. There is a good hotel large enough to accommodate 
the visitors annually seeking the elevated climate and curative waters. 

Bromine-Arsenic Springs. — This mineral spring is located at 
Crumpler Post Office, in Ashe County, on north fork of New River, 
and in a picturesque, healthy climate. The water, as shown by 
analysis, contains beside the usual ingredients sodium arseniate and 
sodium bromide — hence the name. It is a potable water and is recom- 
mended for eczema, nausea, debility, dyspepsia, rheumatism and all 
blood, skin, stomach, kidney and nervous complaints. A hotel which 
will accommodate a hundred guests, royal porcelain baths and a good 
table await the guests. The water is sold in many parts of the United 
States. 

Cleveland Springs. — These are about two miles from Shelby, 
which place is reached both by the Carolina Central and the Three C's 
Roads, and are situated in a region of grandly rolling hills. The 
hotel accommodations are ample and agreeable in all particulars, and 
the resort to these springs is large. The springs are many and of 
varied character, the waters flowing in large volume; for the treat- 
ment of certain diseases the white sulphur is the panacea; for some 
others the red sulphur and iodine are required; for others the chaly- 
beate is best suited, whilst for others the best results are obtained by 
drinking the waters of several alternately. The ailments which seem 
to be mostly under the control of these waters are dyspepsia, rheuma- 
tism, malarial troubles, insomnia, etc. 

Lincoln Lithia Springs. — These springs are located one mile from 
the town of Lincolnton on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, and in 
the Piedmont Plateau Region of the State, and surrounded by a beauti- 
ful undulating farm country noted for its salubrious climate. The 
spring is bold, and the waters contain, as shown by analyses, in each 
gallon of 277 cubic inches, 2.81 grains bicarbonate of lithia, besides 
sulphate of potash and lime, and bicarbonates of iron, lime, magnesia 
and soda. It is noted among the better lithia waters of the country, 
and is highly recommended in the treatment of Bright' s disease, bladder 
and kidney troubles, gout, rheumatism, dyspepsia and nervous diseases. 
It is a potable water and has a wide distribution, and it is highly 
praised by those who have tested its virtues. The Lincoln Lithia Inn 
is a new hotel with modern appointments; is well kept and guests find 
in it a pleasant environment. 

Ellerbee Springs. — These springs are situated about twelve miles 
north of Rockingham in Richmond County, and are locally much 
valued. The waters have an abundant flow and consist largely of iron 
and sulphur in their mineral contents. Remarkable as it may seem, 
the waters of this resort are reported as an effective remedy for hay- 
fsver. While the patients suffering from this malady have been few, 
there is no failure to cure recorded against the springs. 



126 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Jackson Springs. — This health resort is situated in Moore County, 
four miles from West End, on the Aberdeen and West End Railroad, 
and some fifteen miles west of Southern Pines. The flow of the springs 
form a rivulet of clear, cool water. The value of the springs "as a 
remedy for and cure of indigestion in all its forms, particularly dyspepsia 
and diarrhoeal diseases, kidney and bladder troubles, dropsy, cystitis 
and all debilitating causes is well-known." The location of the hotel, 
which is entirely comfortable, near the springs, in the heart of the 
long-leaf pine and the deep sand section of the State, the natural 
sanitarium for those afflicted with lung diseases, makes the springs all 
the more valuable. 

Red Springs — In Robeson County, on the Cape Fear and Yadkin 
Valley Railroad, at a station bearing its name, are located the Red 
Springs, the medicinal virtue of whose waters has been known for an 
hundred years. There are two springs, both are strongly chalybeate, 
showing respectively 1.35 and 1.90 per cent, of bicarbonate of iron, 
while their other mineral contents are desirable in a health water. 
The Hotel Townsent is open all the year, is new and modern in its 
appointments, and is beautifully located in a ^rove of trees. The 
surrounding country and streams alTord sport during winter and 
summer with gun and rod to guests who are able or inclined to take 
the exercise. 

Panacea Springs. — These celebrated springs ai^e situated near Little- 
ton, on the Raleigh and Gaston branch of the Seaboard Air Line Rail- 
road. There is a good hotel on the premises. 

The waters have only become widely known during the past few 
years, but have already acquired fame at home and abroad. The claims 
for efficacy in many maladies are very extensive, but appear to be well 
sustained. For dyspepsia they are said to be very beneficial; also for 
chronic diarrhoea, scrofula, kidney troubles and other diseases. The 
waters lose none of their virtues by transportation, and are sold by the 
drug stores throughout this and the adjoining States. 

The Seven Springs. — They are as remarkable for their locality and 
the nature of their surroundings as for their genuine virtues. They 
are in the southeast corner of Wayne Countj-, eighteen miles from 
both Kinston and Goldsboro, but most readily and quickly reached 
from LaGrange, on the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, seven 
miles north of the springs. The springs lie almost immediately on 
the banks of the Neuse River. 

"The springs, as their title implies, are seven in number; all 
bubbling up in clear, strong volume, in close contiguity and enclosed 
and encased in a spring-house of remarkably limited though absolutely 
convenient dimensions. The waters are as different in their quali- 
ties as they are in their numbers, and prove effective in malarial dis- 
eases, indigestion, insomnia, kidney troubles, including Bright's dis- 
ease, weakness and inflammation of the eyes, loss of appetite, etc. 
The.se springs have been known for many years, and have been the re- 
sort of the surrounding country, but only recently have they become 
known to the more distant public. A good and capacious hotel now 
makes it practicable to distribute their benefits among a much larger 
circle of health-seekers." 




VIEWS AROUND HOT SPRINGS — SOLTHEKN KAILWAV. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 12/ 

SEASIDE RESORTS. 

It may be said here in introduction that the remarks quoted below 
on New Bern, from Mr. Hallock, are applicable almost in their entirety 
to all the North Carolina coast towns. 

Nag's Head. — This noted seaside resort is in Dare County, just 
opposite Manteo, on Roanoke Island. It is annually frequented by 
large numbers of visitors who lave in the blue waters of mother ocean 
and feast upon its gastronomic rarities. Mr Frank Vaughn says of 
this resort: "It is in the midst of a cluster of high sand hills, with 
ocean on one side and sound on the other, the two but half a mile 
apart, is one of the most delightful places for summer residence in the 
State. From the tops of the bald, yellow hills, the scenes on a clear 
summer evening, at the sunsetting, are glorious in the extreme. Away 
in the east reaches the rolling, moaning sea; in the west the red sun 
sinking down into the waters of Albemarle, and on the south Roanoke 
Sound and historic Roanoke Island, green and beautiful in the midst." 

New Bern. — New Bern has held its enviable place as a social cen- 
ter ever since the early colonial days. It is now becoming a winter 
resort. Mr Charles Hallock, at present chief editor of the new 
"'Western Field and Stream," published at St. Paul, says: 

"During my six consecutive winters at New Bern, I have observed 
that when the winter was at all stormy in that locality, it was sure to 
be reported very much worse in the regions adjacent by the Signal 
Service. For instance, if we had a slight flurry of snow in New Bern 
there would be a severe blizzard northwards, extending over a wide 
area of country, or, if a hurricane came up from the tropical seas, 
wrecking and inundating the Georgia and South Carolina coasts, its 
force would be spent before it reached here, and we would get only the 
feather edge of it. If the weather is at all foul in this section, at 
any season, it is a short duration. The rainfall is light in winter and 
cloudiness the exception. Quiescence is the normal condition, and 
there is seldom a meteorological disturbance. 

" From these observations I make the unavoidable deduction that 
New Bern has the most equable winter climate on the coast; and is 
therefore a desirable place for invalids as well as those merely in quest 
of warm and sunny weather. Sportsmen find shooting and fishing in 
variety. 

" I do not see what it is to prevent New Bern from becoming first 
choice of all who go south for the winter; and it is claimed b\' resi- 
dents to be equally delightful in summer." 

Beaufort and Morehead. — The proximity of Beaufort and Morehead 
City together with the near resemblance of their topographical condi- 
tions renders a separate description of these two healthful watering 
places unnecessary. In distance apart they are about two miles, and 
about the same distance from the Atlantic Ocean, and about twelve 
miles northwest from Cape Lookout; in latitude 34.75 north and longi- 
tude 0.50 east from Washington. They are situated in Carteret County, 
on the extreme eastern border of the mainland, the shores of which are 
washed by the waters of Bogue Sound. 



128 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Morehead is built upon a point of land reaching out into the sound, 
which gives it a delightful exposure to the summer breezes from al- 
most every direction. It is immediately on the line of the Atlantic 
and North Carolina Railway near its eastern terminus, and on this ac- 
count is the more accessible to visitors, 

Beaufort is separated from the terminus of the railroad in a direct 
line, by Newport River, and is reached from this direction by ferry- 
boats, which make close connection with all the trains. Beaufort is 
preferred by some on account of the ocean view, and more direct 
breeze. 

Fish and game abound in the neighboring waters and forests which 
are easily accessible to sportsmen. The boating and bathing facilities 
are rarely excelled in any other watering place, the beach for surf 
bathing being exceptionally fine. The hotel accommodations are ample. 

Southport — The attractions in and near Southport are of a kind to 
interest every class of tourists, from the sportsman to the antiquary. 
Fishing is good in every month, and wild fowl and other game are 
plentiful in the winter season. For the invalid, the climate is unsur- 
passed, and outdoor recreation can be indulged in almost uninterruptedly, 
as the ground is always dry, the drainage being sufficient to carry off 
and prevent any standing water; the town lying twenty to thirty feet 
above sea level. 

The tourist at Southport has many points of interest to visit within 
a short distance. Fort Caswell, less then two miles away across the 
harbor is one of the best preserved, interesting and historical ruins in 
the South. Smith's Island less than four miles across the harbor, is a 
wonderful sub-tropical island, with palmettoes upon it thirty and forty 
feet in height. The upper portion of it is covered with a dense 
growth of plants and trees, and the waters around it abound in fish. 
Fort Fisher, five miles up the Cape Fear River is a historical spot; it 
may easily be reached from Southport. These are a few of the most 
noted places, there being a number more well worth visiting. 

Carolina Beach. — Carolina Beach is a summer seaside resort reached 
by boat and rail from Wilmington, about an hour's ride from that 
city, and is situated on a fine stretch of sandy beach directly facing the 
Atlantic Ocean. It is the favorite resort during the summer months 
for families who own or rent cottages. Its bathing is very fine, and 
the celebrated "Pig fish" is caught in countless numbers along the 
shore. In the season a hotel is open for the accommodation of guesji. 

Wrightsville. — Wrightsville, or Wrightsville Sound, is eight miles 
east from Wilmington, and in full view of the Atlantic Ocean one mile 
distant across the sound. Between the sound and the ocean is Wrights- 
ville beach, a narrow strip of sand two hundred yards wide. The Sea- 
coast Railroad runs from Wilmington to Wrightsville, thence across 
the sound and along the beach for two miles. In winter there are 
four trains a day from Wilmington, and during the summer there are 
from ten to twenty trains daily. There is a free delivery of mail 
twice a day, and telephone and telegraph communication with 
Wilmington. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 29 

PINY-WOODS RESORTS. 
"Our Pines are trees of heiling." 

North Carolina lias a large region of piny-woods noted as a resort 
for those suffering from throat, lung and kindred diseases. The heal- 
ing touch of nature, though seeming slow, is yet more cunning than 
science. Once disease takes hold in the harsher northern climates, the 
sufferer must find a milder and more benignant sky, and find in its 
genial, dry and invigorating air a balm to heal. There are healing 
virtues in the balsamic breath of the long leaf pine. Professor Schrie- 
ber of Vienna, states: "that turpentine exhaled from the pine is the 
most effective agent known for converting the oxygen of the air into 
ozone." and Mr. Tufts in his booklet, says: "Ozonized oxygen is a 
powerful antiseptic and disinfectant. Its presence in the atmosphere 
gives the latter a remarkably healing quality for diseased throat and 
lungs." Thus we have the secret which brings health and hope to the 
pilgrims to our Mecca of Pines. 

Southern Pines. — Among the piny-resorts of North Carolina, 
Southern Pines justly ranks first, not only because it was the first es- 
tablished, but because of the excellent location and the salubrious, in- 
vigorating and health-giving air, laden with the healing fragrance of 
the " bled" pines. This favorite resort is located in Moore County, 
near the central part of the State, and on the Seaboard Air Line Rail- 
road. It is on the culmination of an immense sandy ridge, running 
in a northeast and southwest direction through the State, and trace- 
able in its gradually diminished elevations and characteristics in several 
of the States to the southward. Locally, this is known as "Shaw's 
Ridge," the name coming from a prominent family long resident here. 

Dr. G. H. Sadelson, the first to adopt the region as a home, says: 
"A little more than fifteen years ago, in quest of health, I was di- 
rected to this section by the late State Geologist, Professor W. C. 
Kerr, as the highest, dryest section in the whole long leaf pine belt. 
I came, and getting off the train at Manly, the then nearest point to 
"Shaw's Ridge," I found myself half shoe deep in clean sand and sur- 
rounded by a dense pine forest, and breathed an air saturated and made 
gratefully fragrant by the balsamic odor of the turpentine pine. Hav- 
ing made remarkable improvement in a short time, I examined the 
surrounding country including "Shaw's Ridge;" making almost daily 
journeys, mostly on foot, and was so favorably impressed with its 
natural sanitary advantages that I expressed my views through the 
press, at the same time giving my views to Professor Kerr, with whom 
I corresponded." This was the starting point, the foundation of the 
Southern Pines of to-day. It is now fully established among the 
health resorts of the United States, and is well and favorably known 
to the medical profession of this great country. People from all parts 
of the United States visit the place on the advice of physicians, and 
year by year sees its expansion, the boarding houses giving way to 
hotels, and the hotels to the more pretentious ' Inns. ' 

"The Seaboard Air Line Railroad has encouraged, fostered and 



130 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

promoted the growth and development of Southern Pines, and should 
not be omitted even in so brief a sketch as this must be of this resort. 
Southern Pines is within twenty- two hours of New York City." 

Pinehurst. — "Rest" the pines say to the pale health seeker, "the 
noises and the cares that have infested thy life elsewhere come not 
here. Rest, and be healed by day. Sleep and be healed by night. 
Night and day we will not fail to encompass thee with life-giving 
influences. " 

The magic wand of wealth and philanthropy, in the hands of Mr. 
J. W. Tufts, of Boston, Mass., has caused to spring from the virgin 
forest of Moore County a beautifully built city, as a resort for the 
afflicted. Five thousand acres are included in the holding, and on it has 
been laid out picturesque Pinehurst. The celebrated landscape artist, 
Frederick Law Olmstead, was employed, and his taste and skill are 
amply displayed in the work at this resort. The Board of Agriculture 
also rendered assistance in locating this enterprise. As its field is 
rather unique in that its philanthropic originator has built with a 
view of relieving the afflicted with small means, as well as the more 
fortunate, financially, it will be worth while to reproduce a paragraph 
from his little book: "Pinehurst is not intended to be a sanitarium 
for hopeless invalids. It has no hospital features. It is a bright 
cheery village, artistically laid out, possessed of all modern comforts 
and conveniences, carefully controlled so as to make its sanitary and 
other attractive conditions permanent. It invites those in whom dis- 
ease has not progressed so far as to render recovery impossible. To 
such, whether of large or small means, it offers advantages absolutely 
unequalled. ' ' 

Pinehurst is located six miles from Southern Pines, on the Sea- 
board Air Line Railroad, and four miles from Aberdeen, on the Aber- 
deen and West End Railroad. An electric car line connects Southern 
Pines with Pinehurst. The Holly Inn. new, modern in all appoint- 
ments, was the chief hostelry at Pinehurst before the opening of the 
palatial "Carolina," which ranks among the largest and finest in the 
South. The water is exceptionally fine, being supplied from a system 
of deep bored wells. 

MOUNTAIN RESORTvS. 

The tourist from the North or East gets his first view of the 
mountains from Hickory, Catawba County, at the junction of the 
Western North Carolina with the Narrow Gauge Railroad leading from 
Chester, S. C. , to Lenoir. 

Hickory, a vigorous town, is hardly a mountain resort, but is the 
gateway to one of the most attractive, borrowing from the hills above 
and the plains below qualities of scenery, climate and people which 
make it, its denizens and surroundings typical of both. 

Unsurpassed for dryness, for it lies between the wet belts of sum- 
mit and lowlands, sunshine and salubrity, its air supplied from the 
great cataract falling down from the hills to be met and tempered by 
the warmer currents from the south; its population combining the 
strength of the sterner with the polish of the milder sections, it is a 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. I3I 

place where one may well spend some days before going higher to 
accustom himself to the sight of the mountains, and the effect of the 
mild yet bracing atmosphere. 

Fifteen hundred feet above sea level it has a country about it that 
yearly attracts many sportsmen for quail shooting. It also boasts of 
one of the most charming hostelries in the land, Hickory Inn, accom- 
modating 150 guests and with all the modern conveniences. The 
piazzas are broad and sheltered, and the lofty tower at the top of the 
building looks out upon the great mountain system. One hour by rail 
brings the tourist to Lenoir. 

Lenoir. — This pretty town marks the western terminus of the Ches- 
ter and Lenoir Railroad, and here the tourist forsaking the cin- 
ders and dust of the railroad takes private conveyance for the resorts on 
the mountain tops, now visibly piled in great blue heaps against the 
western sky. This little town, filled with cultured, hospitable people, 
and nestling close to the mountains, is a charming half way place. It 
is not so cool as the mountains; has good markets, good hotels and 
boarding houses, good livery and a hearty welcome to the traveller. 
The handsome and modern Lenoir Inn is in every respect a first class 
hotel and well kept according to the most exacting requirements. A 
few weeks of rest and recreation can be spent here. Indeed, its climate 
is preferred by those who find the mountain resorts too cold. But those 
bent on the glorious scenes from the crest of the Blue Ridge, take 
carriage, and in a few hours over a fine turn-pike of twenty miles reach 
the goal. 

Blowing Rock is the name generally applied to designate the 
mountain resort. But there are two ends to the resort, and each 
having a post office, they are separated in name; thus the Green Park 
and Blowing Rock contingents of the same straggling village, more 
than two miles in length, and along this distance are scattered hotels, 
churches, cottages, stores, livery stables, etc. 

These places are about 4,100 to 4,300 feet above the sea; 2,300 feet 
higher than Lookout Mountain or the Catskill Mountain House. 
There, summer reigns with moderate sway, during the season 85 
degrees is the highest temperature recorded ; for two successive 
Augusts the daily maximum ranged from 67 degrees to 84 degrees. 
The days are pleasant, the nights more pleasant if possible; a seat by 
an open fire and a sleep under blankets make the dark hours delightful, 
nerves regain tone, muscles grow strong, blood reddens, dyspepsia and 
headaches flee away in the life-giving atmosphere above the clouds of 
the valleys. 

Where a great spur joins the Blue Ridge an overhanging shelf of 
rock projects from the top so far over the "Globe" or valley of John's 
River, as to catch and for a time confine the currents of air sent up 
from the depths, as the northerly winds, finding no outlet, strike 
against the face of the cliff. The air presently finds egress over the 
top, and the force with which it boils up gives the name of Blowing 
Rock to the beetling crag. When the winds are right any light 
article, handkerchief, scarf, liat or bush thrown from the apex, instead 
of reaching the bottom thousands of feet below, is borne upward and 



132 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

back again to the spot whence it was dismissed. The name of the 
cliff has become that of the village near by where the road to Boone 
intersects with the old turnpike. Within five minutes walk of the 
Rock, near the crest of the Ridge, just between the springs, sources of 
New River and the Yadkin, is Green Park Hotel, so exactly placed as to 
turn the rainfall from the roof partly toward the Ohio and partly toward 
the Pee Dee Rivers. 

Blowing Rock Hotel — Is also on the crest of the ridge, about one 
and a half miles north of Green Park, on a bold clif¥-like projection 
affording from its piazzas charming views of the valley below and of the 
distant peaks beyond. 

The Watauga — Is the pioneer hotel and is at the extreme north 
end of the village, about two miles from Green Park. It has under- 
gone several remodelings and is now a comfortable place, with ample 
grounds and the finest spring of water on the mountain. 

Besides there are numerous boarding houses, all open for the ac- 
commodation of the five thousand visitors annually flocking to this 
favored region for rest and recuperation. 

Boone. — Eight miles northward lies Boone, the county seat of Wa- 
tauga, named for the famous hunter and pioneer, whose lodge fires 
blackened the heap of stones yet remaining and to be seen in a meadow 
there and cherished as Boone's chimney. 

Here, several hotels, with good cookery and cheerful attendance, 
make the place a resort. It is a quiet, restful town, suited for study 
and retirement, albeit now connected with the world by a new and 
admirable road, the most beautiful and of easiest grade in all the hill- 
country. One may ride, drive or walk, at any pace he will, nothing 
obstructs his path; no thoroughfare in the county, unless it may be 
the military pike at the National Chickamauga Park can compare with 
it. 

Linville. — By the picturesque Yonhallossee Pike from Blowing Rock 
or by a shorter one from Pinola can and should be reached the renowned 
Linville, with its great scope of well governed land, its matchless scenery, 
its range of flora and fauna, temperature and climate, hill and valley, from 
the crown of Grandfather Mountain to the smooth green meads bordering 
fair Linville River and among other good things its home- like Esee- 
ola Inn. This is a mountain resort which begun at the other end 
from most of them. Usually the public builds them from a spring 
and cabin to a fountain and a town. In this instance, capitalists 
bought a dukedom so far as territory goes, laid it out for country and 
city, farms and gardens, with a picturesque town plot on the river, at 
the junction of Grandmother Creek, cleared undergrowth, opened for- 
est glades, views and groves, cut paths, built bridges and best of all 
"Yonhallossee" Pike from Blowing Rock along the southern slope of 
Grandfather. Built an inn, cottages and then called the Nation's at- 
tention to the fact that at Linville. with ten miles of trout stream and 
thirty miles of graded driveways, was a town ready-made, a watering 
and breathing place without mark of wear and use, which by the magic 
of money, taste and foresight, had sprung up as yet untenanted, all 
fresh, sweet and new, ready for guests. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 33 

Piiiola. — Now connected with the E. T. and W. N. C. R. R. at 
Cranberry, the little mountain town of Pinola is beginning to attract 
attention. Near Linville, and within easy reach of the beautiful Lin- 
ville, falls and river, which are well stocked with the gamey rainbow 
trout, it is surrounded by vast forests of towering white pines, one of 
the few large bodies of this kind of timber found in the Southern Ap- 
palachians. Good hotel accommodations make the place doubly attrac- 
tive, the Pinola Inn being up-to-date and well kept. 

Cranberry. — Known for years as the location of a great body of 
high grade iron ore, the little town of Cranberry has let its other ad- 
vantages go by unnoticed. Now, with a new and handsomely appointed 
hotel, well kept and beautifully located and surrounded, it is ready for 
the seeker after an ideal summer mountain home. The Cranberry Inn 
is close by the railway station and is easy of access by way of the E. 
T. and W. N. C. R. R. from Johnson City, Tennessee. 

Roan Mountain. — Cloudland and empire of the sky, the highest of 
resorts, loftiest of hotels, most picturesque of summits, can be readily 
reached from Linville, or from Johnson City, E. T. and V. R. R. , via 
Cranberry, 6,342 feet above sea level. Commanding views, as inde- 
scribable as they are numerous, attract and keep the beholder; the top 
of this most beautiful mountain is seven miles long, a natural prairie, 
interspersed with groves, dotted with flowers and shrubbery; it no 
longer serves merely as a pasture for the flocks and herds of the farm- 
ers below, a nobler destiny has been found for it, and travelers swarm 
over its broad expanse. It does not boast of hunting or fishing, such 
sports are not to be looked for above the clouds, but scenery, the 
world spread out below, wholesome wine-like air, pure water, zest for 
food amply provided, comfortable lodging, it challenges the best of 
our hill country resorts. 

Asheville. — Buncombe County and its superb capital, Asheville, 
have for years been the best advertised places in the State. Asheville 
holds peculiar prominence as a resort, by reason of its location, its 
railroad facilities, its many fine hotels, and its easily accessible views 
— splendors of scenery. Then the location of the vast Vanderbilt do- 
main has given it additional importance. It is thronged with visitors 
winter and summer. In winter by those v/ho seek a milder residence 
for the extreme cold of the North, and especially by those who suffer 
with pulmonary troubles; while in the summer the majority of its 
guests come from the warm slopes of the South Atlantic States, seek- 
ing a cooler and more salubrious climate for the heated term. 

The hotels of Asheville and vicinity are of National reputation. 
The great Battery Park, a Queen Anne edifice 300 by 175 feet in size 
and three stories high, is too well known to need any description here. 
The Kenilworth, at Biltmore, only two miles out and adjoining the 
great Vanderbilt estate, is another high class place for the rest seeker, 
while such hotels as the Berkly and Swannanoa, both well within the 
business center of the town, and the Oakland Heights, a litle over a 
mile from the Court House, combine to make Asheville one of the 
best provided towns in the State in this respect. 

Arden Park. — Between Asheville and Hendersonville, nine miles 



134 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROTJNA. 

from the former on the Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad, has an 
excellent hotel largely patronized by exclusive guests from the cotton 
and cane States, as well as by the same class from the North. 

Hendersonville. — Hendersonville, long a favorite resort for the 
aristocracy of the South, is warmer and dryer than other towns along 
the Ridge, well laid out and with shaded streets, good water and 
charming scenery. Its hotels are comfortable, well kept, at moderate 
prices, and attract a steady custom year after year. 

The last few years have shown a wonderful growth here. Hotels 
have multiplied and increased in size until now but few towns of equal 
population can boast of better or more elaborate accommodations for 
the summer visitor or health seeker. Hendersonville is undoubtedly 
one of the coming towns of the mountains. 

Highlands. — At Highlands, in Macon County, a colony of health 
seekers from the North, blended with Southern settlers, have made 
this spot, near the southern verge of the Blue Ridge, at an elevation 
of nearly 4,000 feet above the sea level, a very desirable location. It 
has well kept hotels and many visitors, and is one of the best of all 
the mountain resorts within our borders. Its summer patronage is 
now quite large and is rapidl}^ increasing. 

The Sapphire Country. — About five years ago a company of pro- 
gressive, far-sighted men secured control of a large tract of land in 
one of the most beautiful and grand mountain sections of the State, 
bordering the counties of Transylvania and Jackson. They laid out 
and built on the most approved plans miles upon miles of beautiful 
mountain roads, built dams and made lakes and ponds, put up a series 
of magnificent hotels and cottages and in an incredibly short space of 
time made the rugged mountain wilderness habitable even on a 
luxurious scale. They stocked and restocked the streams with trout, 
protected the native wild game in the forests, cared for the timber, 
and, while changing the natural beauties of the country as little as 
possible, they rendered them accessible to the public. 

In this section of the State the mountains take on a more rugged 
aspect than in some others. The Falls of the Whitewater are some 
three hundred and fifty feet in height and easily accessible by good, 
well graded roads. The great Horsepasture Falls are over a hundred 
and fifty feet high, of good volume and strikingly grand. Fairfield 
Lake has a drive of over four miles around its shores, on a road better 
than most city streets. But the beauties of the country are too many 
and too varied to be detailed in a short sketch of this kind. They 
must indeed be seen to be appreciated. The Franklin Inn, at Brevard, 
and the Sapphire and Fairfield Inns and Toxaway Lodge, all in the 
Sapphire country proper, besides numerous cottages, are new, modern 
and on the most sumptious scale and are amply able to care for the 
many thousands that have learnt of and already patronize the region. 

Waynesville. — No mountain resort in North Carolina has superior 
advantages to this lovely Haywood County town. The Haywood 
White Sulphur Springs are situated here and mention of the place is 
made in the article on the mineral springs of the State. Apart from 
that it is a resort of the first order and as such is very widely patron- 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 35 

ized. It is essentially a town of home- like boarding houses and is 
surrounded by many urban advantages that are often found lacking in 
the neighborhood of the more remote mountain hotels. The beautiful and 
cozy new Eagles' Nest Hotel, five thousand feet above the sea, with a 
smooth and well graded turnpike right up to the door, is one of the 
features of the place, if not of the State. 'It is perched on the extreme 
summit of Junaluska Mountain and the views and the complete ex- 
posure to every breath of health-giving mountain air that blows make 
it almost unique in its location and advantages. 

Flat Rock. — On the Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad in Hen- 
derson County, is a collection of exquisite stone villas surrounded by 
beautiful grounds, built by the wealthiest class of South Carolinians. 
It has to some extent lost the exclusive character of its former years, 
and is one of the most delightful and interesting villages in the South. 
As a resort it is unsurpassed for healthfulness, beauty and romantic 
associations. "St. John' s- in- the- Wilderness, " a sanctuary erected by 
the people from the low country is attractive to all who have read 
' ' The Land of the Sky. ' ' Count and Countess du Choiseul sleep 
quietly in their tombs near the entrance, and a finely graded road 
leads to their lonely Chateau. 

Hot Springs. — This resort is treated elsewhere under the head of 
Mineral Springs. Until its recent development by the Southern Im- 
provement Company it had not the facilities for entertaining guests 
all the year round. The Company owns 4,000 acres at this point and 
has made it a most successful rival of the resorts hitherto more widely 
advertised. 

This place is on the picturesque French Broad River, near the 
Tennessee line in a region of attractions in the way of scenery has es- 
pecially to boast of its climate and healthfulness. Its altitude of 1,700 
feet, freedom from fog, and pure dry air make it most desirable for 
the debilitated. 

Mountain Park Hotel is new, with the best modern appliances. A 
quarter of a mile of broad verandas, excellent cuisine and service 
make it a most desirable home. 

Roaring Gap. — Within the last few years Roaring Gap, Alleghany 
County, has attained the importance of a resort. A large and well 
arranged hotel has been built on a site commanding charming views 
and vistas. It is on the Blue Ridge at an elevation of 2,914 feet, and 
is reached over the Northwestern and North Carolina Railroad, a branch 
of the Southern system. Leaving the train at Elkin, a drive of six- 
teen miles brings you to the hotel. 

Other Towns — Old Fort, Marion, Black Mountain and Morganton 
are all, more or less summer resorts. Morganton has occupied an 
enviable reputation as a resort for more than half a century, and is 
still much frequented; in fact all the towns in the mountain region 
may be classed as resorts, since each has an increasing number of sum- 
mer visitors. 

Taken all together this mountain region is a wonderful section; 
the late Col. J. B. Wheeler, United States Army, who had served all 
over the Union, used to remark that in no region with which he was 



136 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



familiar could be counted in a year so manj^ days when the sun shone. 
Bishop Lyman, who had lived for years in Rome and California was 
fond of saying all manner of gracious things of this region. 

No part of the South oflfers greater attractions to the investor and 
the seeker for health or pleasure, or is more interesting to the student 
than this. Incalculably rich in minerals and timber, perfectly suited 
for growing grasses, cereals and fruits; with a climate bland, strong, 
stimulating and restful, it also has the purest strain of Anglo-Saxon 
blood in the country, and with the possible exception of Kent and 
Devon the purest in the world. Descendants of great houses famous 
under Plantaganet and Tudor, children of ancestors who flew from the 
tyranny of Stuart and Hanoverian, occupy slopes of the Appalachian 
chain, No Latin or Celtic admixture has dimmed the bright current 
which fiows in the veins of the heirs of the gentry and yeomanry of 
the mother isle, and the scholar will observe the frequency with which, 
in the houses of men whose ancestors fought Charles at home and 
Ferguson here, he may listen to the unmatched English of Shakespeare. 

HUNTING AND FISHING. 

Among all the States, North Carolina stands near the head as a 
resort for the hunter and fisherman, but among those within easy ac- 
cess of the centres of population and wealth, it undoubtedly possesses 
advantages equalled by no others. The fact that so ardent a hunter 
and fisherman as ex- President Cleveland selects the shores and sounds 
of North Carolina as his hunting ground (which, by the way, was 
sometimes the practice of his illustrious predecessors), and that the 
wealthy Eastern Field Club holds its annual trials on the stubble cov- 
ered fields of the Piedmont region of the State, are significant proofs 
of the fact that "good hunting" may be had here. 

Deer and bear are the representative big game animals found in 
North Carolina, and they are both sufficiently abundant to be an ob- 
ject of sport in the localities in which they abound, in fact, in some 
sections of the State, the bears often become a nuisance to the farmer 
on account of their depredations on the hog-pen and sheep-fold. 

The Coastal Plain region, the land of the big swamps and pocosons, 
is the natural home of the bear, and almost any one of the extreme 
eastern tier of counties can still show good sport in bringing him to 
bay. The mountains of the west, too, produce some enormous speci- 
mens, and a good many of them, and many deer still roam unmolested 
among the peaks and valleys of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky 
ranges. Deer are also plentiful in the Coastal Plain region of the 
State, as well as in the west, and are found in varying numbers all 
over, except perhaps, in a few of the older and more thickly settled 
counties. Wildcats are common in about the same sections that pro- 
duce the bear and deer, and some wolves yet rouse the wrath of the 
sheep farmers in the mountain districts. 

The stately wild turkey is yet a common bird nearly the whole 
length of the State, and fine specimens are killed frequently within a 
few miles of the State Capital at Raleigh. While not as common, of 




ON ROANOKE RIVER — WELDON. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 37 

course, as formerly, yet it will be many years before this noble bird 
becomes even rare in North Carolina. They are abundant in many 
localities. 

But it is, perhaps, as a wild fowl resort that we stand without a 
rival on the whole Atlantic seaboard. The enormous extent of the 
great sounds, estuaries, rivers, marshes and beaches of the tidewater 
region, makes it the home almost the whole year round of a greater 
number of more different kinds of waterfowl and shore-birds than, 
perhaps, can be found in any other like area on the American conti- 
nent. In fall and winter it is the vast hordes of waterfowl on the 
sounds and open reaches that attract the hunter from afar, and, not 
infrequenly, large bags of canvas-back are the reward of his labors. 
Redhead, mallard and black duck, teal, widgeon and pintail all abound, 
while wild geese and brant are to be killed in numbers unheard of in 
less favored localities. The snow goose occurs here during winter in 
larger numbers than in any other locality on the Atlantic seaboard. 
The great white whistling swan is a common bird on the northern 
sounds, and, with the exception of a few arctic and sub-arctic species, 
about all the members of the duck family known along the western 
shores of the Atlantic Ocean occur, usually abundantly, on the North 
Carolina sounds. In spring and fall, too, the beaches and marshes are 
the resort of innumerable shore and marsh birds. 

Bob- White, the quail of the North and the partridge of the South, 
is found nearly everywhere except on the mountain peaks, but is per- 
haps most plentiful in the Piedmont Plateau Region. But anywhere 
in the State from the tidewater region of the east to the foot hills of 
the west, Bob-White is thoroughly at home, and lots of him too. Of 
all land game birds of the State, in his ability to take care of himself, 
to exist through extremes of both summer and winter temperatures, 
to thrive and grow fat on what he can pick up and to furnish the best 
of sport to the most exacting gunner, Bob- White stands pre-eminently 
first. Bags of twenty-five to fifty are not uncommon with our best 
gunners, and occasionally even larger bags are made. 

In the upper waters of the cold and sparkling streams that have 
their source all through the Mountain Region of the State, the brook 
trout abounds and is here, as elsewhere, the same dashing, gamey 
sprite of the waters whose rise to the fly will always cause the nerves 
of even the veteran angler to tingle. The rainbow trout of the west has 
also been introduced in these streams. Black bass of fair size and 
large fighting capacity are also caught a little lower down, while the 
Piedmont Plateau Region yields some excellent still water fishing for 
bass, sunfishes of several kinds, pike and perch. 

Trolling for bluefish and Spanish mackerel may be indulged in to 
a surfeit, and some of the finest sail boats for this sport, fully equipped 
with lines and bait can be found for hire at many points along our coast. 
An occasional king fish or sero (scomberomorus cavalla) of from fifteen 
to twenty-five pounds weight will vary the monotony of hauling in the 
beautiful mackerel; but the lucky fisherman to whose line such a prize 
comes does not get him to the boat without some hard work and skill, 
too. 



138 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Still fishing for gray and speckled trout (cynoscion regalis and c. 
nebulosus) known further north as weakfish, is a fascinating sport and 
is very productive almost anywhere along the whole line of our coast, 
and along with the trout are caught sea bream, croakers, sea cats, spots 
and many others, in large numbers. Sheepshead of large size are 
caught in the neighborhood of old wrecks and around wharves and old 
piles where they resort to feed on the flinty shelled barnacles growing 
thereon, and it may be remarked, in passing, that it takes a sheeps- 
head' s mouth, with its broad incisors and millstone grinders, to prop- 
erly crush the stony envelope that encloses the juicy barnacle. Of 
course, many other kinds of salt water fishes than those enumerated 
may be and are taken, often in some numbers, by the angler, but the 
space allotted to this article forbids further details. 

In the large bodies of fresh and brackish water and their tributa- 
ries, near the eastern seaboard, including some of the larger sounds 
and lakes, may be had some of the best fresh water fishing in the 
country. Striped bass of enormous size occur in numbers and afford 
excellent sport. Pike, two species, pike perch, speckled perch or 
strawberry bass, white perch, several species of the sun perches, etc., 
are all caught in quantities by the local fisherman on the rudest kind 
of tackle; what might then be done with the improved tackle of the up 
to date angler? But beyond all of the foregoing, the noble black bass 
swims to the front. Both species — the large mouthed and small 
mouthed — occur, and it is no exaggeration to call the black bass really 
plentiful throughout this region. It runs to a large size, too, six and 
seven pound specimens being by no means uncommon, while eight to 
ten pounders occasionally occur. To give some idea of the abundance 
of these species, it may be noted that in 1890 — the latest available sta- 
tistics — the catch for market in one county alone was upwards of 
335,000 pounds, a catch that could hardly be equalled by other like 
area in the country. 

As Dr. J. A. Henshall, the greatest living authority on the sub- 
ject, says, ' ' I consider him inch for inch and pound for pound, the 
gamest fish that swims." Our black bass is known locally as "chub" 
and ' ' Welshman' ' and in the extreme southern part of the State he is 
even called a ' ' trout. ' ' 



EDUCATION. 



NORTH Carolina is well provided with educational facilities. Its 
University at Chapel Hill is the second oldest State University 
in the Union, and its roll of alumni includes many of the most 
eminent names in American history. The State College of Agriculture 
and Mechanic Arts at Raleigh and the State Normal and Industrial 
College for women at Greensboro, although much younger and not so fully 
developed as the University, yet deserve to be ranked among the best 
institutions of their kind in the United States. The State institutions 
for the education of the blind and the deaf and dumb are ample in 
accommodation, progressive in method and thoroughly equipped for 
instruction. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 139 

All the larger cities and towns of the State are provided with pub- 
lic graded schools, most of them with public high schools, which fur- 
nish preparation for colleges and universities. Besides those institu- 
tions, there are 5,411 rural white schools and 2, 418 rural colored schools 
in North Carolina wherein instruction is given during four months each 
year in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, history, arithmetic, 
geography, physiology and civil government. 

It will be seen that the public school system of the State is quite 
comprehensive, and is adapted to training its citizens for all spheres of 
usefulness in life. The State also possesses a very considerable and 
excellent system of private schools and academies and church colleges. 
The celebrated Bingham School at Asheville is over a hundred years 
old, having passed from father to son through four generations. The 
Horner School at Oxford has existed similarly for over half a century in 
one family. Both of these schools have obtained a national reputation 
for efficient teaching. Many other academies have grown up in the 
last twenty-five years, and are now doing excellent work. 

The church colleges of the State are unusually strong and progres- 
sive. A generous rivalry and an earnest desire to extend the benefits 
of higher education have steadily increased their endowment, their 
equipment and their patronage, until now they deserve to be ranked 
among the best colleges in the country. 

Considered as a whole, it may be doubted whether any Southern 
State surpasses North Carolina in facilities for secondary and higher 
education. The public schools, of lower grade, are now being rapidly 
improved. Governor Charles B. Aycock, the first candidate for gov- 
ernor to make his campaign upon an educational platform, is organiz- 
ing, as far as possible, all the forces of the State for the improvement 
of the lower public schools. In a few years, doubtless, they will be 
brought to a very high degree of efficiency. 

The State makes provision for the education of the colored race not 
only in public schools of lower grade, which are maintained by the 
same system of taxation and under the same plan of supervision as those 
for the white race, but also in city graded schools. State normal schools, 
an agricultural and mechanical college and an institution for the deaf, 
dumb and blind. The State Agricultural and Mechanical College 
for the colored race is located at Greensboro, and is well equipped for 
instruction. 

There are also a number of well equipped and well managed colleges 
for the colored i-ace not under State control. The best of these are 
Shaw University and St. Augustine School, Raleigh, N. C. ; Bennett 
College, Greensboro; Livingstone College, Salisbury, Biddle Univer- 
sity, Charlotte. 

LEADING COLLEGES AND ACADEMIES. 

University of North Carolina. — Francis Preston Venable, Ph. D. , 
President. Located at Chapel Hill. Incorporated 1789. 

College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. — George Tayloe Wins- 
ton, A. M., LL. D. , President. Located at Raleigh. Chartered 1887. 

State Normal and Industrial College. — Charles D. Mclver, A. B. , 



I40 A SKETCH OK NORTH CAROLINA. 

D. Litt., President. Located at Greensboro. Chartered 1891. Began 
work 1892. 

Trinity College. — Rev. John C. Kilgo, D. D. , President. Located 
at Durham. Incorporated 1851. 

Wake Forest College. — Rev. C. E. Taylor, B. Litt., D. D. , 
President. Located at Wake Forest. Chartered 1833. 

Davidson College. — Professor H. L. Smith, A. M. , Ph. D., Presi- 
dent. Located at Davidson. Chartered 1835. 

Elon College. — Rev. W. W. Staley, A. M. , D. D., President. 
Located at Elon College. Chartered 1889. 

St. Mary's School. — Rev. Theodore Bratton, D. D. .Rector. Located 
at Raleigh. Established 1842. 

Peace Institute. — Professor James Dinwiddie, A. M., Principal. 
Located at Raleigh. Founded 1837. 

Elizabeth College. — Rev. Charles B. King, President; Julia Louise 
Abbott, Lady Principal. Located at Charlotte. Incorporated 1897. 

Guilford College. — Lewis Lyndon Hobbs, A. M. , President. Lo- 
cated in Guilford County. Incorporated as a college 1888. 

Yadkin Collegiate Institute. — W. T. Tatton, A. B., J. F. Tatton, 
A. B. , Principals. Located at Yadkin College. Chartered 1861. 

Red Springs Seminary. — Rev. C. S. Vardell, President. Located 
at Red Springs. Incorporated 1897. 

The Baptist Female University. — Rev. R. T. Vann, D. D. .Presi- 
dent. Located at Raleigh. Incorporated 1891. 

Greensboro College. — Dred Peacock, President. Located in 
Greensboro. Chartered in 1838. 

North Carolina College. — Rev. W. Lutz, President. Located at 
Mt. Pleasant. Chartered in 1855. 

Weaverville College. — Rev. G. F. King, Principal. Located in 
Weaverville. Founded in 1873. 

Claremont College. — Stuart P. Hatton, President. Located at 
Hickory. Chartered 1888. 

Catawba College. — Charles H. Mebane, President. Located at 
Newton. Chartered 1851. 

St. Mary's College. — Right Rev. George Haide, D. D., O. S. B., 
President. Located at Belmont. Founded in 1876. 

Louisburg Female College. — M. S. Davis, President. Located in 
Louisburg. Established 1847. 

Littleton Female College. — Rev. J. M. Rhodes, President. Located 
at Littleton. Established 1884. 

Presbyterian College. — John R. Bridges, President. Located at 
Charlotte. 

Davenport Female College. — Rev C. M. Pickens, President. Located 
in Lenoir. 

Lenoir College. — Rev. R. A. Yoder, D. D. . President. Located 
at Hickory. 

Kinston College. — Dr. R. H. Lewis, President. Located at 
Kinston. 

Salem Academy and College. — John H. Clewell, President. Located 
at Winston- Salem. Founded 1802. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. I4I 

Whitsett Institute. — William Thornton Whitsett, Ph. D. Presi- 
dent. Located at Whitsett, Guilford County. Incorporated 1884. 

Bingham School. — Col. Robert Bingham, A.M.,LL. D., Superinten- 
dent. Located at Asheville. Established 1793. 

Normal and Collegiate Institute. — Rev. Thomas Lawrence, D. D. , 
President. Located at Asheville. Established 1892. 

Oak Ridge Institute. — J. Allen Holt and Martin H. Holt, Princi- 
pals. Located at Oak Ridge. Chartered 1852. 

Horner's Military School. — J. C. Horner. Principal. Located at 
Oxford. Founded fifty years ago. 

Bingham School. — Preston Lewis Gray, Principal. Located near 
Mebane. Established 1793. 

Raleigh Male Academy. — Hugh Morson, Principal. Located at 
Raleigh. 

Chapel Hill School. — John W. Canada, Principal. Located at Chapel 
Hill. Established 1896. 

Buie's Creek Academy and Commercial School. — Rev. J. A. Campbell, 
Principal. Located at Buie's Creek. 

Home Industrial School. — Florence Stevenson, Principal. Located 
at Asheville. Established 1887. 

Cary High School. — E. L. Middleton, Principal. Located at Cary. 
Established 1896. 

Francis Hilliard School for Girls. — Miss Margaret B. Hilliard, 
Principal. Located at Oxford. 

Oxford Female Seminary. — Professor F. P. Hobgood, A. M., Presi- 
dent. Located at Oxford. Founded 1850. 

Cullowhee High School. — R. L. Madison, Principal. Located at 
Painter. 

Turlington Institute. — Ira T. Turlington, Principal. Located at 
Smithfield. 

Atlantic Collegiate Institute. — S. L. Sheep, President. Located 
at Elizabeth City. 

Robeson Institute. — Professor Ackerman, Principal. Located at 
Lumberton. 

Trinity Park High School. — J. F. Bivens, Headmaster. Located 
at Durham. 

Raeford Military School. — W. P. M. Curry. Principal. Located at 
Raeford. 

Warrenton High School. — John Graham, Principal. Located at 

Warrenton. 

Union Home School. — John E. Kelly, A. M., Principal. Located 

at Victor. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM. 

Leaders of thought in North Carolina for more than a hundred 
years have advocated public schools for all the people. The first Con- 
stitution of the State was framed at Halifax, in 1776. That Consti- 
tution contained a declaration that the salaries of the masters of schools 
should be paid by the public. 

Early in the last century Governor Miller called the attention of 



142 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the General Assembly to the question. A committee was appointed by 
that body to investigate and report a plan. Judge Archibald D. Mur- 
phy, of Orange County, was the chairman of the committee, and in 
1817 he submitted a voluminous report. That report antedated Hor- 
ace Mann's appointment as Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of 
Education exactly twenty years, and in every particular it is the equal 
of the ablest report ever issued by Massachusetts' great apostle of edu- 
cation. 

In 1838 a practical beginning was made under the leadership of 
Bartlett Yancey, of Person County, who had read law in the office of 
Judge Murphy. The work rapidly increased in force and efficiency, 
skillfully directed by Calvin H. Wiley, the first Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, who visited in his buggy every county in the State 
and stirred up an interest among the people on the subject of educa- 
tion, which is bearing fruit to-day. Of the educational movement of 
this period John Swett, of California, has recently written: "North 
Carolina secured a State school fund (1825-40) of two million dollars, 
and then distributed the annual income in aid of county district 
schools, thus making a nearer approach to common schools than any 
other Southern State. This State, too, was alone among the Confed- 
erate States in keeping her schools open during the war. ' ' 

Of late years the tax rate has been steadily increased from six and 
one-quarter cents to eighteen cents on one hundred dollars of property, 
and, with constantly increasing valuation of property, the school reve- 
nues have been doubled in the past sixteen years while the school 
population has increased but twenty-seven per cent. The enrollment 
has also increased at a more rapid rate than the school population. 

In addition to the public school revenue now levied by legislative 
enactment, amounting to about §1,100,000 annually, there is levied and 
collected a sum approximating $250,000 in the various cities and towns 
of the State for the better support of their graded schools. About 
thirty-five cities and towns now support such schools, open during the 
entire scholastic year. As yet, this movement is confined mainly to 
the towns, but within the past year a number of country school dis- 
tricts have taxed themselves for better school facilities, and a vigorous 
movement is now being made under the direction of Governor Aycock 
and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, aided by the 
Southern Educational Board, to induce the people of the various villages 
and rural districts without public school facilities other than those 
afforded by the State Government to supplement the public school fund 
by a special local tax. A meeting called by Dr. Charles D. Mclver, 
acting for the Board in North Carolina, was recently held in the 
Governor's office in Raleigh. It was attended by presidents of colleges, 
college professors, principals of academies, county superintendents of 
schools and graded school superintendents from all over the State. 
Without a dissenting voice, this conference passed resolutions urging 
the people to add largely to the school revenues by a special local tax. 
There is no doubt that in a few years hundreds of communities in the 
State will be enjoying the advantages of a good public school open for 
eight or nine months of the year. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. I43 

At its last session, the Legislature passed an act providing for the 
establishment of rural school libraries. The sum of $5,000 was set 
apart for this purpose. The act provides that if the patrons and 
friends of any rural public school raise ten dollars for a library, the 
county school authorities shall appropriate ten dollars and the State 
Board of Education shall also appropriate ten dollars for the purchase 
of books. Although the law has been in force less than a year and 
although no county is entitled to more than sixty dollars of the State 
appropriation, there has already been drawn more than three-fifths of 
the entire amount of the State funds available. In the county of 
Durham, after the State appropriation for six libraries was exhausted. 
Col. Julian S. Carr generously furnished means sufficient to make such 
a library possible in every school district of the county. 

The present school law wisely looks toward the building of better 
school houses, more efficient supervision and the consolidation of 
schools. The county Boards of Education are now entrusted with the 
duty of erecting school houses, to be paid for out of the general school 
fund of the county. They are authorized to pay the county superin- 
tendent of schools as much as four per per cent, of the county school 
fund. They are not allowed to establish a new school within three 
miles by the nearest traveled route of a school already established. 

After all is said, however, better than increased school revenues 
and wiser laws, the most hopeful sign for our schools is the educational 
spirit in the State. The present Governor is North Carolina's Educa- 
tional Governor in fact, as he will be in history, and from the executive 
office to many a humble home the talk is of schools and education. A 
few days ago the State was called upon to mourn the death of her 
honored superinterident of public schools. The sorrow over his death 
was deep and sincere even among those who did not know him, because 
they loved the cause so near his heart. 

His successor, Prof. Jas. Y. Joyner, carries to the office of State 
Superintendent a rare combination of scholarship, consecration to lofty 
ideals, teaching experience, executive ability and common sense. He 
possesses the full confidence and the enthusiastic support of the 
teaching profession and the general public. His acceptance ot the 
office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction and his administra- 
tion of our public schools will mark an era in North Carolina school 
history. 

THE CITY SCHOOLS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

There are in North Carolina thirty-four (34) cities and towns which 
have supplemented the regular school fund with local taxes and conse- 
quently have terms of nine or ten months each year. 

In the following list will be found the names of these cities and 
towns and also of the Superintendents: 

Asheville, R. J. Tighe. 

New Bern, Harry P. Harding. 

Goldsboro, Thomas R. Faust. 

Raleigh, Edward P. Moses. 

Charlotte, Alex. Graham. 



144 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

Wilmington, Jno. J. Blair. 
Statesville, D. Matt. Thompson. 
Lexington, J. B. Si:)ilman. 
Rockingham, A. B. Hill. 
Burlington, Frank H. Curtiss. 
Mount Airy, Jeff Davis. 
Albemarle, L. L. Stevens. 
Wilson, E. P. Mangum. 
Gastonia, Joe S. Wray. 
Reidsville, W. Banks Doree. 
Monroe, Eugene C. Brooks. 
Oxford, R. D. W. Connor. 
Durham, J. A. Matheson. 
Selma, T. T. Candler. 
Washington, Harry Howell. 
Salisbury, Chas. L. Coon. 
Henderson, J. T. Alderman. 
Marion, E. E. Sams. 
Hendersonville, R. M. Ivins. 
Fayetteville, J. A. Jones. 
Concord, C. S. Coler. 
Sanford, D. L. Ellis. 
Mount Olive, J. D. McWhorter. 
Waynesville, W. C. Allen. 
High Point, G. H. Crowell. 
Rocky Mount, W. V. Boyle. 
Tarboro, R. M. Davis. 
Greensboro, E. D. Broadhurst. 
Kinston, L. C. Brogden. 

Establishment of the Schools. — The history of the establishment 
of these schools is a fair index to the educational growth of North 
Carolina and especially to the growth of the local tax idea. 

It was only after strenuous and earnest effort on the part of a few 
enthusiastic advocates that the first graded schools in our cities were 
established. 

It often required two or three elections to get the poi)ular endorse- 
ment necessary for the collection of taxes to defray the running ex- 
penses. Prior to 1885 there were only seven of these communities 
which had adopted the principle of local taxation as the only means of 
securing satisfactory Public Schools. During the five years from 1885 
to 1890, only three additions to the list had been made and during the 
ten years from 1890 to 1900 only ten additional communities had rated 
a special tax — or an average of about one for each year. 

The year 1901 will always be looked upon as a bright and encour- 
aging one in the educational history of North Carolina, for in this 
year twelve (12) cities and towns provided adequate school facilities 
by voting adequate school funds for the support of their schools. Not 
a single election was lost to schools during this year. 

This means that North Carolina did great things for the dev^loo- 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. I45 

ment of her latent intellectual power in 1901. Guided and inspired by 
these examples our State is at last ripe for a great educational awak- 
ing, and what is, if possible, of more practical importance, all our 
citizens are fully convinced that local taxation is the only means by 
which an efficient system of schools can be built up. 

Enrollment of the City Schools. — There are enrolled in these 
schools at the pres'ent about 31,880 children. While this does not 
mean that this number is in the schools every day, it does, however, 
mean that during a part of the session at least the above number of 
children come in contact with cultured and trained teachers. 

Course of Instruction. — In almost all of the graded schools it re- 
quires ten full years of work to complete the course of study. In 
many it requires eleven years, and some few demand twelve years' 
work before granting a certificate. 

The following are some of the subjects taught in the high school 
departments: 

Latin, grammar, composition and reading and translation of 
Caesar, Cicero, Virgil and some other authors. 

Arithmetic, algebra and geometry, botany, zoology, physics and 
chemistry. 

English history, Roman and Grecian history. United States his- 
tory. 

English and American Literature. 

In almost all of the schools some form of manual training is taught 
and in a few cases a special director is employed to supervise this work. 

Libraries. — Recognizing the importance of cultivating a taste for 
the reading of good, wholesome books the graded schools have provided 
themselves with small, well selected libraries from which the pupils 
are permitted to borrow books. 

The movement in many of our cities for large, well equipped public 
libraries originated with the small collection of books found in the 
schools. 

The books borrowed from the schools were eagerly read in the 
homes of the children and added brightness and good cheer to them. 
It was only one step in advance of this to provide more books where 
every one in the community could be supplied with good reading 
without any charge whatever. 

Financial. — For actual running expenses the thirt3--four systems 
of schools spend annually about $287,200. Of course the per capita 
from the general fund is paid each year, but by far the major part of 
this revenue is raised by local taxation. 

In addition to the above amount large sums are spent annually on 
improved equipment. During the past two years $395,000 were ex- 
pended upon buildings and permanent improvements. 

The city schools of North Carolina have always been educational 
beacons, pointing the State to better things. The affairs have been 
wisely administered by local Boards which have always required a high 
decree of efficiency on the part of superintendent and teachers. 

While the process has been a long and tedious f)ne the impression 
has at last been made upon the State by the wise management and 



146 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

efficiency of the city schools. We confidently look for our rural com- 
munities to adopt the same principle. In fact several have already done 
so and we expect to multiply the number by at least one hundred 
within the next few years. 

The following sketches of the University and the five leading colleges 
of the State have been supplied by the Presidents of their respective 
institutions: 

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The University of North Carolina was ordained of the people in 
the first Constitution of the State, adopted in 1776, and received the 
grant of a charter from the Legislature in 1789. It is, therefore, the 
oldest State University in the Southern States. The development and 
expansion of the University have been most marked during the past 
ten years. Within that period the following advances have been 
made in the life of the institution: 

1. Increase of enrollment from 248 to 565. 

2. Increase of teaching force from 20 in 1891, to 52 in 1902. 

3. Extension of elective system. 

4. Establishment of Chairs of History, Pedagogy, Biology, Geol- 
ogy and Economics. 

5. Extension of the Medical Course. 

6. Extension and growth of the Summer School. 

7. Establishment of the School of Pharmacy. 

8. Erection of Commons Hall. 

9. Admission of Women. 

10. Erection of Alumni Hall and the Carr Building. 

11. Establishment of the University Press. 

12. Construction of the Water-works. 

13. Erection of the Mary Ann Smith Building. 

14. Establishment of Medical College at Raleigh. 

The Value of University Training. — The practical value of Uni- 
versity training is clearly shown in the lives of her sons, who have 
been leaders in every great movement in the State and the entire 
South — political, social and industrial; in the pulpit, at the bar, in 
business, or in the councils of the State and Nation. 

The list of eminent Alumni includes one President of the United 
States, two Vice-Presidents, ten Cabinet Officers, seventeen Ministers 
to Foreign Courts, fourteen United States and ten Confederate States 
Senators, twenty Governors of States, twenty- two Justices of the Su- 
preme Court, sixteen Generals, four Bishops, eighteen College Presi- 
dents, fifty-nine Professors in Colleges and Universities. 

Advantages offered by the University. — 1. The largest and most 
costly equipment in the State. The present value is about $450,000. 

2. The largest academic faculty in the South, besides excellent 
faculties in Law, Medicine and Pharmacy. 

3. The University offers the highest courses and a greater number 
of them, giving a broad and liberal training. 

4. The inestimable advantage of meeting students from all sections, 
various creeds and parties, and forming friendships which must tell 
for later success. 




iz; " 



2; in 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 47 

5, "The thing that has been of most benefit to me all my life is 
the fact that I was a student at the University of North Carolina." — 
Zebulon B. Vance. 

Location. — The University is situated in the town of Chapel Hill, 
near the geographic center of the State, and convenient of access to 
students from all sections. The climatic advantages are many. 

Chapel Hill is situated on a branch of the Southern Railway. Two 
daily passenger trains connect at University Junction with trains to 
and from Greensboro and Raleigh. 

Equipment. — The Library. — The University Library contains 
thirty-two thousand bound volumes and ten thousand pamphlets, and 
supplies material for general reading and special study in connection 
with work in the several departments of the University. It is open 
to students seven hours daily. Most of the departments have special 
libraries of practical working value. The reading-room is well sup- 
plied with magazines, papers and reviews. The accessions to the li- 
brary amount to about two thousand volumes annually. 

Facilities for Instruction in Science. — The University has well- 
appointed laboratories in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geology, Min- 
eralogy, Pharmacy and Pathology. The equipment includes im- 
proved types of apparatus and supplies for experimentation and illus- 
tration of lectures. The students are provided with modern appara- 
tus for observation and study. Each department also has a museum, 
containing collections illustrating the courses in scientific subjects. 
The departmental libraries contain books of reference, treatises and 
journals. 

Societies. — The Literary Societies offer facilities for practice in 
debate, oratory, declamation and essay writing. Each society owns a 
large, well-furnished hall, the walls of which are hung with oil por- 
traits of illustrious members. The societies for special culture, the 
Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, the Philological Society and the 
Shakespeare Club, offer unusual facilities for original research'and 
study. The North Carolina Historical Society is located at the Uni- 
versity. Its work is open to all students and gives access to valuable 
historical material. 

Campus and Buildings. — The University campus contains forty- 
eight acres of land, affording ample ground for buildings and for all 
sorts of athletic sports. There are, contiguous to the campus, five 
hundred acres of forest land, which is partly laid off into walks and 
drives. The University has fifteen buildings, which afford ample 
room for lecture halls, laboratories and dormitories. During the past 
two years the equipment of the University has been increased by the 
construction of three new buildings. The Carr Building, the gift of 
General J. S. Carr, of Durham, affords accommodation to eighty stu- 
dents with every modern convenience. The Alumni Building is one 
of the finest buildings in this State. It is used for offices of adminis- 
tration and for lecture rooms. A new dormitory, the Mary Ann Smith 
Building, contains forty rooms. 

A system of waterworks has been installed, and is now in successful 
operation. This system furnishes an abundance of pure filtered water 



148 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

at a pressure sufficient for distribution in all the buildings and for 
use in the laboratories, baths and dormitories. A hundred and eighteen 
thousand dollars have been expended in improvements during the past 
year. 

Departments. — The University comprises the following departments: 

The Academic Department. 

The Graduate School. 

The Law School. 

The Medical School, first and second years at Chapel Hill, third and 
fourth at Raleigh. 

The School of Pharmacy. 

The Summer Schools. 

Necessary Expenses. — The necessary expenses at the University are 
very moderate. It is believed that no other similar institution in the 
United States offers equal advantages at so small a cost. 

The dues payable at the beginning of each of the two terms amount 
to $41.25. 

The entire cost of living for a session of nine months at the Uni- 
versity is about $200. 

Students having scholarships or free tuition should deduct $60 from 
this total. 

The fees for tuition in the professional schools are: 

In Law, $37.50 per term. 

In Medicine, $37.50 per term. 

In Pharmacy, $30 per term. 

Pecuniary Aid. — The income of certain bequests to the University 
affords eighty- four scholarships for meritorious students of slender 
means. There is, also, the Deems Fund, which provides loans for the 
very needy who show unusual merit. Twelve prizes, also, are offered 
in competition to students in the University. 

The number of scholarships and loans is limited, but they are 
given, without reference to county or State lines, to students of tal- 
ent, character and financial need. 

Free tuition is given in the Academic Department to sons of 
ministers and candidates for the ministry, to young men under bodily 
infirmity, to public school teachers and those who intend to teach. 

The Summer School for teachers begins on the 16th of June, and 
continues for three weeks. Instruction is given in methods and 
school management by experts and specialists. Certificates are 
awarded to teachers who complete the course. 

Religious Interests. — The University, as a State institution, is 
non-denominational. The spirit of its instruction and college life is 
broad and sympathetic, but essentially conservative, devout. Chris- 
tian. The religious influences in the University are manifold, active 
and well-directed . Morning prayers are held daily in Gerrard Hall. 
Attendance is required. Each month, also, a sermon is delivered by 
one of the University preachers. There are special courses of instruc- 
tion in the English Bible, and lectures on Bible history are delivered 
each Sunday morning in Gerrard Hall. The Young Men's Christian 
Association meets four times each week, and assists in Bible study and 
Sunday-school work in the town and county. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. I49 

Discipline. — The University endeavors to make young men manly 
and self-reliant, and develop character by educating the conscience. 
The discipline of the institution is administered upon a basis of honor 
and manhood in its students. Courtesy and consideration prevail in 
all relations, and the friction of the college life begets mutual regard, 
sympathy and respect between the teacher and taught. 

Care of Students' Health. — The health of the students is the spe- 
cial charge of the Medical Department of the University. On pay- 
ment of a small medical fee, all students receive the careful attention 
of the University physicians. They are by this arrangement relieved 
of the possible expense of large medical bills in case of prolonged ill- 
ness, and parents may rest assured that their sons will have the best 
medical advice if they shall need it. The infirmary is comfortably 
furnished, containing improved equipment for the care of the sick. A 
competent nurse is in attendance in case of severe illness. 

Labor and Self-Help. — It is confidently believed that no institution 
offers wider opportunities for self-help to meritorious students otslender 
means. Many students are now working their way through college by 
every form of honorable labor. A number are here as the result of 
money earned or borrowed. Fifty are aided by loans, and over nine 
hundred have received aid from the University in loans and scholar- 
ships in the past twenty years. A few students are selected by the 
authorities as waiters at Commons. Otherwise all opportunities, 
though available in the college and town, must be secured by the per- 
sonal effort of the individual. They are not assigned by the President. 
Athletics and Physical Training. — The University has excellent 
facilities for physical training. The gymnasium, Memorial Hall, is 
equipped with modern appliances for exercise, and is under the super- 
vision of an experienced director. 

The athletic interests are controlled by the students, with the 
advice and supervision of the faculty. In base ball, foot ball and 
track athletics, the University is one of the leaders among Southern 
colleges. 

The University and the Public Schools. — The University is the 
logical head of the entire system of public educational institutions. 
It has always been foremost in fostering and developing the schools. 
For the last fifteen years nearly one-half of each graduating class has 
gone into the school service. There is a department of Pedagogy for 
the training of teachers and a Summer School for those who are al- 
ready teaching and who are unable to attend its regular sessions. Dur- 
ing the past year 250 students, who are teachers, or intend to teach, 
attended these schools. 

Any further information about the University can be obtained by 
addressing the President, Dr. F. P. Venable, Chapel Hill, N. C. 



I50 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND 
MECHANIC ARTS. 

FOR INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 

" North Carolina possesses every element of wealth excepting skilled 
labor aiid technical knowledge. Give her these, and she will become the 
garden-spot of the earth.''' 

" The South is marching to the music of millions of spzndles, wheels, 
and gears. Technically trained men are giving it the benefits of scientific 
training. With water-power of vast extent, with jnines of coal and 
iron and moufitains of limestone, with forests rich in rare atid beautiful 
woods, with a climate adapted beyond all others for cotton, with splendid 
harbors and navigable water-ways, there is no reason why the South 
should not rival any part of the world in agriculture, commerce and 
manufactures.'''' 

"A cefitury ago education was for the few, and was designed to 
fit them for the learned prof essions; to-day education is for the many, 
a7td is intended to equip them for life' s practical work.''^ 

The North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts 
was established to "to promote the liberal and practical education of 
the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." 
It is an institution where young men may fit themselves for work in 
any line of industry where training and skill are requisite to success. 

It offers a complete technical education in Agriculture, Horticul- 
ture, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engi- 
neering, Chemical Engineering, Mining Engineering and the Textile 
Industry. It also offers thorough practical training in Carpentry, 
Wood-turning, Blacksmithing, Machinery- work. Mill-work, Boiler- 
tending, Engine-tending, Dynamo-tending, Dairying, Stock-feeding, 
Farm-drainage, Market-gardening, Floriculture, etc. 

Although the leading purpose of the College is to furnish technical 
and practical education, yet other subjects essential to liberal culture 
are not omitted. Thorough instruction is given in English, Mathe- 
matics, History, Civics, Political Economy, Physics, Chemistry, Botany, 
Zoology, Physiology, Physical Geography and Geology. 

The College is intended, in short, to furnish a broad, liberal education 
and also to give at the same time such special technical instruction and 
practical manual training as are indispensable to industrial professions 
and occupations. It is not a place for young men who desire merely 
general education without manual or technical training, nor for lads 
lacking in physical development, mental capacity or moral fibre; nor 
for those that are unable or unwilling to observe regularity, system, 
order and economy in their daily lives and work. 

Courses of Instruction. — The College offers the following Courses 
of Instruction: 

I. Full (or Technical) Courses of four years, leading to degrees in: 

1st. Agriculture (including Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal In- 
dustry, Dairying, Agricultural Chemistry and Botany. ) 



V 







»"*>'-JSj«S>U-'- '^'&' 






NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE OF A(;KICl'LTl'RE ANn MECHANIC ARTS. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 151 

2d. Engineering (including Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engi- 
neering, Electrical Engineering, Mining Engineering and Chemical 
Engineering). 

3d. Textile Industry (including Cotton Manufacturing, Designing 
and Dyeing). 

These courses offer a combination of practical and theoretical work, 
about half of the time being devoted to lectures and recitations and 
the other half to work in the shops, laboratories, drawing-rooms; 
green-houses, dairies, fields and mills. They are intended to furnish 
both technical and liberal education. The Bachelor's degree is con- 
ferred upon any one who completes a Full Course. 

II. Short Courses of two years in Agriculture, the Textile Indus- 
try, and the Mechanic Arts (including Carpentry, Wood-turning, 
Blacksmithing, Machinery work, Mill work. Boiler tending, Engine 
tending, and Dynamo tending). 

The Short Courses include nearly all the practical work of the Full 
Courses, with less theoretical instruction. They are intended for 
students who desire chiefly manual training or for those who are un- 
able to complete the Full Courses. 

III. Special Courses, requiring about three months, in Agriculture, 
Carpenter work. Machine Shops, Engine tending. Boiler tending. Ma- 
chine Drawing and Designing. The special courses are intended for 
persons of limited means, or limited opportunity, who desire special 
training in a single line. 

Location and Equipment. — The College is beautifully located in 
the western suburbs of Raleigh, a mile and a quarter from the State 
Capitol. The site is suitable in all respects. There is an abundant 
supply of water from deep wells, and the natural slope of the land fur- 
nishes perfect drainage. 

The College now owns six hundred acres of land and fourteen build- 
ings, and its teaching force consists of thirty persons. The student 
roll numbers about 400. Its library contains three thousand volumes, 
and its reading-room is well supplied with popular, literary and tech- 
nical journals. Both library and reading-room are accessible to stu- 
dents eight hours a day. There are also special reference libraries in 
connection with the various laboratories, drawing-rooms, and work- 
shops. The equipment for instruction is as follows: 

In Agriculture: farm of 600 acres, barns, silos, tools, machinery, milk- 
herds (Jerseys, Guernseys, Holsteins), beef- herd (Aberdeen, Angus) 
dairy building with complete dairy apparatus, testers, separators, 
churns, butter- workers, etc. Swine (Poland-China and Berkshire) and 
poultry. 

In Horticulture: Horticultural farm (23 acres), barns, silos, stock, 
machinery, five green-houses, grape-house, laboratory, plant collec- 
tions, etc., etc. 

In Botany: Laboratory, herbarium, seed collections, and green- 
houses. 

In Engineering: All instruments for field work in civil engineer- 
ing; drawing and designing rooms; machine shop with tools, machines; 
wood shop for carpentry, lathe work and pattern work; forge shop; 



152 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

mechanical engineering laboratory; electrical engineering laboratory; 
physical laboratory ; electrical machinery and apparatus; mechanical 
machinery and apparatus. 

In Chemistry: Laboratories, apparatus and library. 

In Cotton Manufacturing: Textile building for dyeing, weaving, 
designing, cording and spinning, etc., equipped with $25,000 worth of 
mill machinery. 

Demand for A. and M. Graduates. — The graduates of this College are 
in great demand. In fact the students are frequently called away before 
graduation to accept lucrative positions in industrial enterprises. The 
demand far exceeds the supply. The rapid increase of manufactures, 
the application of electricity as power, the construction of railroads, 
the opening up of lumber and wood working industries, the development 
of dairying, trucking, stock raising, fruit growing, the various applica- 
tions of chemistry in the industrial arts, the manufacture of machinery, 
the demand for mill superintendents, designers and dyers, the spring- 
ing up, almost daily of new industries and the extension of old, have 
created in the South a very great demand for young men with indus- 
trial training. The College receives applications almost every week, 
not only from North Carolina, but from the Southern States generally, 
and the Northern too, for young men with manual skill and technolog- 
ical knowledge. 

The President of the college is Geo. T. Winston, A. M., LL. D. ; 
address. West Raleigh, N. C. 

THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL 

COLLEGE. 

The State Normal and Industrial College for women, located at 
Greensboro, was established by Act of the General Assembly of 1891, 
and began its work in October, 1892. It is supported mainly by the State 
but receives liberal aid from the Peabody fund, and has considerable 
revenue from tuition fees. 

The purpose for which the College was created is thus set forth in 
Section 5, of the Act establishing it: 

"The object of this institution shall be (1) to give to young- 
women such education as will fit them for teaching: (2) to give in- 
struction to young women in drawing, telegraphy, typewriting, steno- 
graphy and such other industrial arts as may be suitable to their sex 
and conducive to their support and usefulness. Tuition shall be free 
to those who signify their intention to teach upon such conditions as 
may be prescribed by the Board of Directors." 

The conditions prescribed by the Board of Directors for all appli- 
cants for free tuition are contained in the following agreement, which 
agreement each student applying for free tuition must sign: 

"I seek the opportunities of the State Normal and Industrial Col- 
lege because it is my desire and intention to make teaching my pro- 
fession, and I agree, in consideration of free tuition granted me, if I 
can secure employment and my health permits, to teach in the public 
or private schools of the State for at least two years after I leave the 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 53 

College." Each applicant for free tuition is also required to pursue 
one of the four regular courses of study prescribed by the College 
authorities. 

It is the general purpose of the institution to give such education 
as will add to the efficiency of the average woman's work, whatever 
may be her field of labor. To this end there are three distinct de- 
partments in the course of study, embracing the Normal Department, 
the Commercial Department, and the Domestic Science Department. 

The Domestic Science Department receives recognition from the 
fact that the natural and proper position in life for the average woman 
is at the head of her own household, a position for which she is un- 
qualified without some practical knowledge of those industries that per- 
tain directly to the home and family. 

The work of the Commercial Department is intended especially 
for those women who are thrown upon their own resources, but who do 
not care to teach. 

The North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College is a part 
of the public school system and its chief mission is to prepare people 
to work in and to improve that system. The authorities of the insti- 
tution recognize the fact that the chief factors of any civilization are 
its homes and its schools; that homes are made by women; and that it 
is in the home and from the mother that the child receives its earliest 
education and its first lessons in citizenship. The peculiar mission of 
the College and the cause of its existence may perhaps be best explain- 
ed by a consideration of a few statistics. Who are the teachers of our 
children? The latest report (1899-1900) of the Commissioner of Educa- 
tion shows that of the 421,288 teachers employed in the common 
schools of the United States, over sixty-nine per cent, are women. It 
is, moreover, a steadily increasing per cent, having without exception 
grown larger while the per cent, of male teachers has grown smaller 
each year during the last decade. The same report also shows that of 
the total number of students in the schools of the United States 94.73 
per cent, are in the elementary grades, grades taught almost exclusively by 
women while only 1.35 per cent, are to be found in the higher grades 
where male teachers find their principal field of labor. If, then, 
women are the teachers of all children in their earliest years, and of 
practically 94.73 per cent, of all the children in schools, the college 
which has for its prime purpose the fitting of women for the profession 
of teaching is surely not without a mission. 

It is the belief of those who preside over the work of the North Caro- 
lina State Normal and Industrial College that the foundation equipment 
of a real teacher is accurate and thorough scholarship. With this in 
view the Normal Department seeks to give to its students the best 
literary and scientific education, including instruction in English and 
history, mathematics, natural science, ancient and modern languages, 
industrial art, vocal music and physical culture as well as work in the 
department of Pedagogy proper. 

Four regular courses, of four years each, and one special course 
allowing special attention to instrumental or vocal music are prescribed 
by the College. Advanced courses of study, requiring in addition to 



154 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

the four years' work already done, one year of residence study in pre- 
scribed subjects, are oflfered leading to degrees. 

That the College is filling a long felt need in the State, and that it 
is in a measure fulfilling its mission, is shown by the fact that each 
year there have been more applicants for admission than the institu- 
tion could accommodate, and this in spite of ever increasing dormitory 
facilities; that there is not a county in the State that has not been rep- 
resented at the College, that over ninety per cent of all its graduates 
have taught or are now teaching in the schools of the State; that its 
students have been employed as teachers in almost every county of the 
State; that every important city school in North Carolina has employed 
or is now employing its graduates; and that each year sees an 
increased demand for its graduates as teachers in the public or private 
schools of the commonwealth. 

During the ten years of its existence the institution has enrolled 
as matriculates a total of 2,211 students. The College has ample 
grounds, including a large park, numerous buildings, all modern and 
well equipped, a good library and proper laboratories. The faculty 
numbers 36 officers and instructors. Dr. Charles D. Mclver is President. 

DAVIDSON COLLEGE, DAVIDSON, N. C. 

History — The Scotch Irish Presbyterians, who settled Piedmont 
Carolina a quarter of a century before the Revolution, brought with 
them their love of liberty, of religion, and of learning. The first cul- 
minated in the Mecklenburg Declaration; the second bore fruit in 
scores of vigorous churches and generations of godly men and women; 
the third led to the establishment of numerous high grade classical 
academies, and a half century later burst into flower in the founding 
of Davidson College. Their patriotism, religion and love of learning 
are blended in every word of the motto on the college seal, ' ' Alenda lux 
ubi orta Libertas. " 

The originator of the movement was Rev. Robt. Hall Morrison, 
D. D. , at the spring meeting of Concord Presbytery, in 1835. The 
Presbyteries of Bethel and Morganton a few months later added their 
strength to that of Concord, the churches in their poverty soon raised 
over $30,000 for the new institution, and on March 1st, 1837, Davidson 
College began its career, with 66 students in attendance, and Dr. Mor- 
rison as its first president. 

In 1855 Maxwell Chambers, of Salisbury, bequeathed to the College 
a residuary legacy of a quarter of a million dollars. The stately main 
building was soon erected at a cost of $85,000, expensive apparatus and 
cabinets were purchased, new members were added to the Faculty, 
and the College had entered upon a new era of prosperity and influence 
when the Civil War called most of its students to the front. 

The regular exercises of the College were never intermitted during 
the war, though its students were mainly boys too young to bear arms, 
but of her munificent ante-bellum endowment of $260,000 only one- 
fourth survived the financial ruin of the South. Ever since this over- 
whelming loss, the college has had to make up in zeal, untiring labor, 
and heroic self-denial what she lacked in worldly wealth. 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 55 

Since the war the endowment has slowly grown to about $125,000, 
and the college has gone steadily onward with its work, training 
Southern leaders in church and State, at peace with its denominations 
and all other institutions of learning, standing always for genuineness, 
thoroughness, and unremitting study, in an age of educational shams, 
easily won degrees, and suicidal zeal for numbers, and giving to her 
students that liberal hard-won Christian culture which leads to broad- 
ened vision, intellectual self-reliance and spiritual power. 

Equipment. — The College owns 17 buildings, the largest one cost- 
ing $85,000. The total cost of the buildings and apparatus is nearly 
$200,000, and the College has an invested endowment of over $125,000. 
Its Y. M. C. A. hall was the first ever erected on a Southern campus. 
Its physical laboratory took the first X-ray photograph south of Balti- 
more, and owns the largest and most powerful X-ray coil in the State. 
The first wireless telegraph outfit ever brought to the State was pur- 
chased by Davidson and no college or university in this section of 
country has a chemical laboratory equal in size and equipment to the 
Martin Chemical Hall, completed last year. 

The College library contains about 15,000 carefully selected volumes, 
and the cabinet 11,000 minerals, shells, and fossils. 

The College has athletic grounds, numerous tennis courts, a gym- 
nasium with competent director, a complete set of anthropometric 
apparatus, and ample bath rooms, with hot and cold water, open to 
students at all hours without charge. A complete system of water- 
works supplies all college buildings and students boarding houses with 
an abundance of water, from flowing artesian tube- wells, declared by 
the State Bacteriologist to be the purest drinking water ever tested 
in his office. 

A handsome new building, the vShearer Biblical Hall, has just been 
completed. It contains an Assembly Hall, with a seating capacity of 
500, a cornmodious and well furnished reading room for the students, 
and several recitation rooms and administrative offices. 

Each Literary Society has its own building, and each Fraternity its 
own handsomely furnished rooms. The campus is a 20-acre lawn of 
blue grass shaded by hundreds of stately oaks and elms. 

Faculty. — The teaching force at Davidson consists of eight fall pro- 
fessors, a thoroughly competent gymnasium director, and four tutors 
and laboratory assistants. The members of the faculty are young men, 
only one having passed middle age, and are in full sympathy with the 
young men under their care. Six of the eight are Ph. D. 's of Johns 
Hopkins and the University of Virginia; the seventh completed all 
the courses at Johns Hopkins for the same degree, but was called away 
before finishing his thesis, and the eighth is an ante-belllum M. A. 
of the University of Virginia. There is probably not another 
college or university faculty, North or South three- fourths of whose 
members (practically seven-eighths) are Doctors of Philosophy from 
such LTniversities. 

Each member of the faculty was a professional teacher before tak- 
ing his university degree, and every one is an earnest, active Chris- 
tian, laying his learning and talents at the foot of the Cross. 



156 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

The social and official i-elations of the students and Faculty are 
most pleasant and cordial, and the homes of the professors are always 
open to student visitors. 

The College Atmosphere. — The moral tone of the Davidson cam- 
pus is unsurpassed. Its students are the very flower of Southern 
Presbyterianism, coming from homes where culture and Godliness 
have been an inheritance for generations. Hazing, drunkenness, 
immorality, etc., have for some years been almost unknown, and 
last year, from September till June, not a single case of discipline 
engaged the attention of the Faculty. It is by no means claimed that 
no unworthy students are ever matriculated, or that a new student can- 
not find evil companions, but where on an average, nine out of every 
ten students are consistent church members, this element is Unusually 
small. Three years ago, when the session closed, only one in twenty- 
five was not a member of the church. 

Yet neither Faculty nor students believe in' ' goody-goody- ness, ' ' nor 
in ascetic dyspeptic, flabby-muscled Christianity. One-third of the stu- 
dents are regular foot-ball players. The College team last year won 
seven out of eight inter-collegiate games, and every form of athletic 
exercise and clean manly sport is encouraged by the Faculty. Never 
in its history has the Davidson team been accused by a defeated eleven 
of any form of unfairness or foul play, nor has any rumor of miscon- 
duct while away from College ever reached the ears of the Faculty. 

Davidson has no suicidal zeal for mere numbers. No dishonorable, 
vicious or incorrigibly idle student will be permitted to remain in 
the institution, nor will the Faculty, knowingly, admit such to ma- 
triculation. 

WAKE FOREST COLLEGE. 

The location is sixteen miles north of Raleigh, on the line of the 
Seaboard Air Line Railroad, and in a high, gently rolling, and healthy 
country district. The proximity to the Capital of the State affords 
many of the advantages, without the moral dangers, of city life. The 
little town of Wake Forest and the surrounding neighborhood are as 
free from evil influences as any in the world. 

History. — The College was founded in 1833 by the Baptist State 
Convention. The development of a great institution of learning, like 
the growth of many other healthful organisms which are destined for 
long life, is, in many cases, slow and gradual. This wasillustrated in 
the earlier history of Wake Forest College. It has passed through 
several distinct stages of growth. Each has been characterized by 
peculiar features, but no one of them has been lacking in abounding 
usefulness. The earlier years of the College were clouded by financial 
embarrassment. The funds available as endowment, however, now 
amount to more than $250,000. Five large and commodious buildings 
are conveniently located in a beautiful campus of twenty-five acres. 

Organization. — The College is organized into fourteen distinct 
"schools." The excellence of this plan has been demonstrated by 
long and thorough testing. In the arrangement of courses leading to 
the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts the elective principle 



A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 1 5/ 

has been so guarded as to make it impossible for a student to make 
eliminations which would be fatal to thorough or extended scholarship. 
Extended laboratory work is required in the schools of Biology, 
Chemistry and Physics. 

The library contains sixteen thousand volumes representing most of 
what is standard in all the departments of literature and science. 
More than one hundred magazines, reviews and newspapers are regu- 
larly on file in the reading room. Physical Culture is required daily 
of all students. Ample facilities for this are afforded in the new 
gymnasium, one of the largest and best in the South. Here also are 
ample baths for the use of students. The Literary Societies are well 
sustained and contribute no little to the training of their members. 
Their halls are admirably adapted for their use and are elegantly 
furnished. 

Expenses are as small, in proportion to advantages offered, as at 
any college in the country. Furnished rooms and service are provided 
by the College, though many students prefer to room in the private 
homes of the town. Excellent clubs, controlled by students, but 
managed by ladies, furnish table board at surprisingly low rates. 

The College has a corps of twenty professors and instructors. The 
number^of students enrolled in the last catalogue was three hundred and 
seven. 

The Post Office is Wake Forest, N. C. 

TRINITY COLLEGE. 

Trinity College is located in the city of Durham, N. C. , a town 
noted for its manufacturing and business enterprises. During the 
past ten years nearly eight hundred thousand dollars have been in- 
vested in the endowments, equipments, and other improvements of 
the College. The growth of Trinity has been remarkable. Large 
amounts of money are annually donated to its further development, 
and it is the aim of the authorites to perfect it in every line of college 
work. 

The policy of Trinity is broad, seeking to create a spirit of 
sincerity and accuracy in scholarship, loyalty and freedom in citizen- 
ship, aggressiveness and energy in business, purity and progress in 
society, and tolerance and truth-loving in religion. As a college, it 
is kept in relation to all the serious problems of life, and strives to 
make a direct contribution to the progress of a sound civilization. 

The educational standards and methods are in the interest of the 
highest intellectual and religious culture. The courses of study are 
fixed in accordance with this ideal. Short courses of a convenient 
nature are not offered, and the entrance requirements are such as to 
prevent students unprepared for college work from becoming members 
of the College. More than twenty-five per cent, of Trinity's gradu- 
ates enter the larger imiversities of this country and pursue lines of 
advanced study. 

The growing influence of Trinity College is evident in the increas- 
ing number of students who come from other States and other coun- 



158 A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

tries. It is fast becoming the de- localized college of the South Atlan- 
tic States, and more and more the embodiment of a cosmopolitan 
spirit and influence. 

The annual cost to the student is remarkably small. At colleges 
of like ranking in the East, the charges are more than twice as large. 
Young men of limited means find at Trinity an opportunity to secure 
a college training, and many are meeting the cost of their education 
by their own efforts. 

During the past few years some of the largest business organiza- 
tions in America have secured Trinity men for the most responsible 
positions, thus testifying to the wisdom of keeping college work and 
sympathies in direct relations to all problems. The demand for 
Trinity graduates is much beyond the supply, and is an answer to the 
unfair criticism of the business unfitness of the college graduate. 



COISTTENTS. 



Page 

Introduction 2 

Historical — 

The Revolution 4 

TheCivilWar '.'...'.'..'.'.'." 5 

General Sketch — 

The Mountain Region 6 

Piedmont Plateau Region 9 

Coastal Plain Region 10 

Climate of North Carolina '' n 

Government and Taxation — 

School Taxes payable to County Treasurers 15 

County Taxes 16 

Agricultural Department — 

State Museum 20 

Geological Survey 21 

Public Charities... 22 

Religion 23 

Newspapers ..'...'.'..'...'.'..'.'.... 23 

Population * .' ] 23 

Geology and Mineral Resources op North Carolina — 

Geology 25 

Mineral Resources in North Carolina 28 

Gold and Silver 30 

Copper '. 34 

Iron 35 

Minor Economic Minerals ', 36 

Corundum 36 

Garnet 37 

Mica 37 

Talc and Pyrophillite 39 

Monazite 40 

Gem Minerals 40 

Diamond 40 

Corundum Gems, Ruby and Sapphire 41 

Rhodolite 41 

Garnet Gems ' [ 42 

Beryl .. 42 

Hiddenite 43 

Quartz 43 

Other Gem Minerals 44 

Kaolin 44 

Other Clays 45 

Graphite 45 



Coal. 



45 

Building Stones 46 

Water Power op North Carolina — 

Coastal Plain Region 49 

The Piedmont Plateau Region 50 

The Appalachian Mountain Region 50 

Power Possibilities 52 

Cost of Engines, Boilers and Buildings 63 

Cost of Coal and Petty Stores 64 

Working Cost of Steam Plant 64 

Cost of Labor 64 

Cost of an Effective Horse Power for a year of three thousand 
working hours, the Engine working regularly with nearly full 

load 64 



l6o A SKETCH OF NORTH CAROLINA. 

CONTENTS— Continued. 

FORESTRT — 

Timber Ti^ees of North Carolina 70 

Fauna 76 

Flora 79 

Agriculture in North Carolina — 

Lower Piedmont 84 

Upper Piedmont 84 

Tiie Mountain Region , 86 

Leading Crops , 86 

Stock Raising in the Coastal Pl^iin 90 

Hog Raising go 

Sheep Raising gi 

Alfalfa for Sheep and Cattle gi 

Raising Horses and Mules g2 

Farming of the Central Piedmont ga 

Agricultural Education 93 

Farmers' Institutes 94 

Commercial Fertilizers g4 

Horticulture in North Carolina — 

Truck Farming 94 

Winter Gardening g5 

Truck Farms 95 

Trucking in the Mountain Country 98 

Small Fruit Culture 99 

Orcharding in North Carolina 101 

Ornamental Gardening and Floriculture 101 

Orchards and Small Fruit — 

Orchard Fruits 103 

Small Fruits 104 

Manufacturing — 

Facilities and Opportunities for Manufacturing 105 

Leading Industries 105 

Cotton Mills 105 

Cotton By-Products 108 

Lumber and Timber Products 108 

Tobacco Manufacturing 109 

Furniture Factories 109 

Leather Working lug 

Chief Manufacturing Cities and Towns log 

Commercial Fisheries in 

Public Roads 117 

Railroads AND Steamboats 119 

Health and Pleasure Resorts — 

Mineral Springs 123 

Seaside Resorts 127 

Piny-Woods Resorts 129 

Mountain Resorts 1 30 

Hunting and Fishing 136 

Education — 

Leading Colleges and Academies 139 

Public School System 141 

City Schools of North Carolina 143 

The University of North Carolina 146 

The North Carolina Cc-Hege of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. . . 150 

The North Carolina State Normal and Industrial College 152 

Davidson College, Davidson, N. C 154 

Wake Forest College 156 

Trinity College 157 



